The Olympians Read Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief
by GaleSynch
Summary: AU: The world's about to end, Percy couldn't believe the Olympians of the past are doing nothing but reading about her adventures. Luke/Fem!Percy. Poseidon/Athena. Eventual Thalia/Apollo. Nico/Piper. Ethan/Annabeth. Jason/Reyna
1. Chapter 1

**Genre:** Romance/Family/Adventure/Humor/Tragedy

**Rated: **T

**Pairing(s):** Fem!Percy/Luke

**Summary:** AU. Percy and Luke make a good couple in my opinion. So I tweaked it a little because M/M isn't something I'm very good at writing. Percy's personality will be the same, so no worries for her turning into a Mary-Sue. What would happen if the gods read the books before they knew of Percy?

**Setting**: This starts on the day after Thalia is turned into her tree. So the ages are as below:

Percy: 7

Luke: 14

Annabeth: 7

P.S : 7 years of difference doesn't make Luke a pedophile . . . I think. 7 years isn't really much of a difference.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own **Percy Jackson and the Olympians**

**Warning(s):** AU(Seeing as Percy's female) Obviously there will be spoilers to the books. Also I'm sorry if there are any grammar or spelling mistakes, please forgive me!

* * *

_Prologue_

* * *

_The tension in the air could have been sliced by a knife_, Apollo thought as he and the others watched the three sons of Kronos glare at each other. What happened to his half-sister wasn't pretty. It was the winter solstice, where they gather. The only time Hades was allowed to visit Mt. Olympus. Which was why they were arguing. Poseidon was just dragged along.

Just when he was about to open his mouth to say something, a blinding flash of white interrupted him.

Everyone was on guard, expecting an attack. But surprisingly, only books was what came out of the column of white. When no one made a move to touch it, Apollo gathered his courage to approach.

"What is it?" Hermes asked curiously.

When nothing happened as Apollo grabbed the book, the others crowded around him. Hades, Zeus and Poseidon being careful to avoid each other.

"Books?" Athena asked, slightly interested. Her eyes narrowed when she caught sight of a slip of paper. Her hand snatched out to grab it.

"What do you have there?" Demeter asked, leaning over Athena to see the note.

'_**With one of the highest powers, twelve amassed.**_

_**They will change the future, but for the better,**_

_**Lives will be saved, and cruel fates will be spared,**_

_**But a warning for the unprepared;**_

_**If you do not try and succeed, with your every breath,**_

_**The gods rein will end in death.**_

_**-The Fates'**_

Zeus' eyes narrowed, "That doesn't sound good."

"It doesn't," Poseidon agreed. "Maybe the books will help us understand."

Athena snorted. "Isn't that what the note said? Did you not hear?"

Poseidon glared at her, then he gritted his teeth when he found no suitable retort. He turned to Apollo. "Well? Let's start reading." He snapped.

"What are the titles?" Demeter asked.

"Well, its_ . . . Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightening Thief_, _Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Sea of Monsters_, _Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Titan's Curse_, _Percy Jackson_..." He was cut off by Artemis.

"We _get_ it. They all start with Percy Jackson and the Olympians! Just read the part that changes!" Artemis said, exasperated.

"Well alright then... _Battle of the Labyrinth_, and_ The Last Olympian_." Apollo finished, not really caring that Artemis interrupted him. No once noticed how Poseidon had paled and swallowed nervously.

"Can we read now?" Hera grunted impatiently. Hades, and Hestia(Despite not being one of the Olympians, always listened in on the meetings), who had been silent nodded their assent. Dionysus didn't particularly care. He just stared, with bored eyes at everything.

"_Right . . ."_ Apollo flipped the pages. "Let's get started. The books are quite thick."

* * *

**Chapter 1: **I ACCIDENTALLY VAPORIZE MY PER-ALGEBRA TEACHER

* * *

"Why would someone do that?" Athena asked, appalled. No respect for learning, really.

"I haven't even started yet and you're asking me something I don't know?" Apollo asked, exasperated.

Athena flushed slightly, "Read on then." She threw a heated glare at Poseidon who smirked at her.

**Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood.**

"Oh great," Dionysus' tone leaked sarcasm. "Must be one of those little brats I have to take care of then." He sighed. "The punishment's too much." He whined, looking at his father, Zeus.

Zeus ignored him. "Please hurry."

**If you're reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is:close this book right now. Believe what ever lie your mom or dad told you about your birth, and try to lead a normal life.**

"We aren't even half-bloods." Hermes pointed out.

"We know that," Athena said, irritated.

"So, this book is for mortals?" Hades asked. "We already knew that, so its pointless to tell us that."

"Maybe." Hera muttered. "But I hope not, mortals should be ignorant of this fact."

**Being a half-blood is dangerous. It's scary. Most of the time, it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways.**

**If you're a normal kid, reading this because you think it's fiction, great. Read on. I envy you for being able to believe that none of this ever happened.**

**But if you recognize yourself in these pages—if you feel something stirring inside—stop reading immediately. You might be one of us. And once you know that, it's only a matter of time before **_**they **_**sense it too, and they'll come for you.**

**Don't say I didn't warn you.**

**My name is Percy Jackson.**

"_Really_ now? Like we _didn't_ already know that from the title of the book." Ares snorted.

Apollo said, "Just wait for the next sentence."

**Though my full name is Persephone Perseus Jackson.**

He snickered, "Bet you didn't know that, did you?" Apollo taunted, eliciting snickers from a few of them; Ares glared at him. But mostly, they were throwing glances at Zeus. They tried to do it discreetly, of course.

"What?" Zeus growled, finally noticing the looks he was getting. "Just because the girl's named after two of my children doesn't mean-"

"Nothing." They chorused. They'll find out who's the kid's godly parent soon anyway, if they continue reading.

**I'm twelve years old. Until a **_**few **_**months ago, I was a boarding student, cross-dressing as male seeing as I lost a bet (long story), at Yancy Academy, a private school for troubled kids in upstate New York.**

**Am I a troubled kid?**

"All demigods are." Hera remarked. Almost everyone threw her dirty looks. "What?" She demanded.

**Yeah. You could say that.**

Hera looked at them triumphantly, "See? Even the kid herself agrees."

No one bothered to retort.

**I could start at any point in my short miserable life to prove it, but things really started going bad last May, when our sixth-grade class took a field trip to Manhattan—twenty-eight mental-case kids and two teachers on a yellow school bus, heading to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to look at ancient Greek and Roman stuff.**

"Oh, that sounds like fun!" Athena said.

"It sounds like torture." Poseidon remarked.

**I know—it sounds like torture.**

Poseidon smiled proudly. Hades looked at him oddly and suspiciously but didn't comment.

**Most Yancy field trips were.**

**But Mr. Brunner, our Latin teacher, was leading this trip, so I had hopes.**

**Mr. Brunner was this middle-aged guy in a motorized wheelchair. He had thinning hair and a scruffy beard and a frayed tweed jacket, which always smelled like coffee.**

"Sounds like Chiron," Dionysus said. Everyone looked from Hades, Zeus to Poseidon. If Chiron himself was there, it meant that this Percy kid was one of theirs.

Poseidon refrained from confessing right there and then. They'll find out sooner or later.

**You wouldn't think he'd be cool, but he told stories and jokes and let us play games in class. He also had this awesome collection of Roman armor and weapons, so he was the only teacher whose class didn't put me to sleep.**

**I hoped the trip would be okay. At least, I hoped that for once I wouldn't get in trouble.**

"Famous last words," Hermes grinned.

**Boy, was I wrong.**

"I knew it."

**See, bad things happen to me on field trips. Like at my fifth-grade school, when we went to the Saratoga battlefield, I had this accident with a Revolutionary War cannon. I wasn't aiming for the school bus, but of course I got expelled anyway.**

"Is the kid yours?" Hestia asked from her spot by the hearth.

Hermes shook his head. "If it is, I would've known her name."

"Hoo. Someone new to play with." Aphrodite squealed. No one bothered to say anything to stop her. But Athena noticed how Poseidon threw her a well hidden glare. It was just his bad luck that she saw his action. She filed it up to look into later.

**And before that, at my fourth-grade school, when we took a behind-the-scenes tour of the Marine World shark pool, I sort of hit the wrong lever on the catwalk and our class took an unplanned swim. And the time before that... Well, you get the idea.**

"I like this kid though, even if she isn't mine." Hermes said smiling

**This trip, I was determined to be good.**

**All the way into the city, I put up with Nancy Bobofit, the freckly, redheaded kleptomaniac girl, hitting my best friend Grover**

"That satyr?" Zeus demanded, face turned stormy. "How could you?" He turned on Dionysus. "He failed! He should be fired!"

"Father, He _did_ bring two demi-gods to the camp safely" Hermes defended the so called satyr.

"Yes, maybe Dionysus should give him another chance." Athena said defensively.

"You two would be singing a different tune if it was _YOUR_ child that got the same fate as your half- sister, my daughter!" His voice wavered slightly at the very end.

Apollo continued before Hades can comment. If he did, there would be an argument. A pointless one.

**in the back of the head with chunks of peanut butter-and-ketchup sandwich.**

"Eww! That's disgusting!" Aphrodite said

"That is nauseating! Who would eat that?" Demeter said in the same disgusted voice as Aphrodite.

**Grover was an easy target. He was scrawny. He cried when he got frustrated. He must've been held back several grades, because he was the only sixth grader with acne and the start of a wispy beard on his chin. On top of all that, he was crippled.** **He had a note excusing him from PE for the rest of his life because he had some kind of muscular disease in his legs. He walked funny, like every step hurt him, but don't let that fool you. You should've seen him run when it was enchilada day in the cafeteria.**

"There he goes, practically blowing his cover." Hephaestus said gruffly. "Automatons are so much more reliable."

**Anyway, Nancy Bobofit was throwing wads of sandwich that stuck in his curly brown hair, and she knew I couldn't do anything back to her because I was already on probation. The headmaster had threatened me with death by in-school suspension if anything bad, embarrassing, or even mildly entertaining happened on this trip.**

"That's no fun." Hermes said pouting. "Why blame the kid alone? It isn't fair."

**"I'm going to kill her," I mumbled.**

"Do it!" Ares said , anticipating the bloody battle that would come.

**Grover tried to calm me down. "It's okay. I like peanut butter."**

**He dodged another piece of Nancy's lunch.**

**"That's it." I started to get up, but Grover pulled me back to my seat.**

**"You're already on probation," he reminded me. "You know who'll get blamed if anything happens."**

**Looking back on it, I wish I'd decked Nancy Bobofit right then and there.**

**In-school suspension would've been nothing compared to the mess I was about to get myself into.**

"Oh dear." Hera looked almost concerned. Which was surprising since she hated demi-gods. All of them, regardless of their parentage.

**Mr. Brunner led the museum tour.**

**He rode up front in his wheelchair, guiding us through the big echoey galleries, past marble statues and glass cases full of really old black-and-orange pottery.**

**It blew my mind that this stuff had survived for two thousand, three thousand years.**

"Longer than that, boy." Hades grumbled.

**He gathered us around a thirteen-foot-tall stone column with a big sphinx on the top, and started telling us how it was a grave marker, a **_**stele, **_**for a girl about our age. He told us about the carvings on the sides. I was trying to listen to what he had to say, because it was kind of interesting, but everybody around me was talking, and every time I told them to shut up, the other teacher chaperone, Mrs. Dodds, would give me the evil eye.**

Hades frowned. Why would he send Alecto there?

**Mrs. Dodds was this little math teacher from Georgia who always wore a black leather jacket, even though she was fifty years old. She looked mean enough to ride a Harley right into your locker. She had come to Yancy halfway through the year, when our last math teacher had a nervous breakdown.**

**From her first day, Mrs. Dodds loved Nancy Bobofit and figured I was devil spawn. She would point her crooked finger at me and say, "Now, honey," real sweet, and I knew I was going to get after-school detention for a month.**

**One time, after she'd made me erase answers out of old math workbooks until midnight, I told Grover I didn't think Mrs. Dodds was human. He looked at me, real serious, and said, "You're absolutely right."**

"Way to blow his cover." Zeus muttered. "I hope he fails and get fired for real this time."

Poseidon glared at him, "That would result in the girl's death." He snapped.

"Why do you care so much anyway?" Hades asked, tone of voice suspicious.

Zeus turned to Poseidon, "Yes, why do _you_ of all people care so much?"

"No reason, just thought that Hades had learned his lesson after attacking my poor niece." Poseidon replied stiffly. Hades didn't seem to buy it, but he didn't push it.

**Mr. Brunner kept talking about Greek funeral art.**

**Finally, Nancy Bobofit snickered something about the naked guy on the stele, and I turned around and said, "Will you **_**shut up**_**?"**

**It came out louder than I meant it to.**

**The whole group laughed. Mr. Brunner stopped his story.**

**"Mr. Jackson," he said, "did you have a comment?"**

**My face was totally red. I said, "No, sir."**

**Mr. Brunner pointed to one of the pictures on the stele. "Perhaps you'll tell us what this picture represents?**

**I looked at the carving, and felt a flush of relief, because I actually recognized it. "That's Kronos eating his kids, right?"**

Demeter grimaced, "Why would anyone carve that?"

"The question is," Hera said. "Is how the mortals managed to carve something they had never seen?"

No one answered her, having no answer.

**"Yes," Mr. Brunner said, obviously not satisfied.**

**"And he **_**did **_**this because ..."**

**"Well..." I racked my brain to remember. "Kronos was the king god,** **and—"**

"That's a deadly insult." Zeus thundered. "She should be blasted to bits."

"She doesn't know yet, brother." Hestia said, trying to stop her brother from doing anything rash to the books in replacement of the real kid. "Chiron will correct her, I'm sure of it."

**"god?" Mr. Brunner asked.**

**"Titan," I corrected myself. "And ... he didn't trust his kids, who were the gods. So, um, Kronos ate them, right? But his wife hid baby Zeus, and gave Kronos a rock to eat instead.**

"Mother always did like you best." Poseidon and Hades grumbled as everyone else rolled their eyes.

**And later, when Zeus grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronos, into barfing up his brothers and sisters—"**

**"Eeew!" said one of the girls behind me.**

"Well it _was_ disgusting." Demeter stated.

**"—and so there was this big fight between the gods and the Titans," I continued, "and the gods won."**

**Some snickers from the group.**

**Behind me, Nancy Bobofit mumbled to a friend, "Like we're going to use this in real life. Like it's going to say on our job applications, 'Please explain why Kronos ate his kids.'"**

"I hope someday, someone would teach her a lesson," Apollo paused in his reading to comment.

**"And why, Mr. Jackson," Brunner said, "to paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question, does this matter in real life?"**

"BUSTED!" Apollo yelled happily.

**"Busted," Grover muttered.**

**"Shut up," Nancy hissed, her face even brighter red than her hair.**

**At least Nancy got packed, too. Mr. Brunner was the only one who ever caught her saying anything wrong. He had radar ears.**

**I thought about his question, and shrugged. "I don't know, sir."**

**"I see." Mr. Brunner looked disappointed. "Well, half credit, Mr. Jackson. Zeus did indeed feed Kronos a mixture of mustard and wine, which made him disgorge his other five children, who, of course, being immortal gods, had been living and growing up completely undigested in the Titan's stomach. The gods defeated their father, sliced him to pieces with his own scythe, and scattered his remains in Tartarus, the darkest part of the Underworld. On that happy note, it's time for lunch. Mrs. Dodds, would you lead us back outside?"**

The gods snorted.

**The class drifted off, the girls holding their stomachs, the guys pushing each other around and acting like doofuses.**

**Grover and I were about to follow when Mr. Brunner said, "Mr. Jackson."**

**I knew that was coming.**

**I told Grover to keep going. Then I turned toward Mr. Brunner. "Sir?"**

**Mr. Brunner had this look that wouldn't let you go— intense brown eyes that could've been a thousand years old and had seen everything.**

**"You must learn the answer to my question," Mr. Brunner told me.**

**"About the Titans?"**

**"About real life. And how your studies apply to it."**

**"Oh."**

**"What you learn from me," he said, "is vitally important. I expect you to treat it as such. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson."**

**I wanted to get angry, this guy pushed me so hard.**

"He _should_ push you hard! Its the best way for you to learn." Athena stated.

**I mean, sure, it was kind of cool on tournament days, when he dressed up in a suit of Roman armor and shouted: "What ho!'" and challenged us, sword-point against chalk, to run to the board and name every Greek and Roman person who had ever **_**lived, **_**and their mother, and what god they worshiped.**

"Ah, that really does sound like a class I'd enjoy." Apollo said happily.

**But Mr. Brunner expected me to be as good as everybody else, despite the fact that I have dyslexia and attention deficit disorder and I had never made above a C— in my life. No—he didn't expect me to be **_**as good; **_**he expected me to be **_**better. **_**And I just couldn't learn all those names and facts, much less spell them correctly.**

**I mumbled something about trying harder, while Mr. Brunner took one long sad look at the stele, like he'd been at this girl's funeral.**

"He probably has." Hephaestus said.

**He told me to go outside and eat my lunch.**

**The class gathered on the front steps of the museum, where we could watch the foot traffic along Fifth Avenue.**

**Overhead, a huge storm was brewing, with clouds blacker than I'd ever seen over the city. **

They all looked at Zeus. Said person huffed. "This hasn't happen yet, how should I know?"

**I figured maybe it was global warming or something, because the weather all across New York State had been weird since Christmas.**

**We'd had massive snow storms, flooding, wildfires from lightning strikes. I wouldn't have been surprised if this was a hurricane blowing in.**

Everyone stared at Poseidon and Zeus this time. Exasperatedly, they demanded: "What?"

**Nobody else seemed to notice.**

"The Mist." Artemis said.

**Some of the guys were pelting pigeons with Lunchables crackers. Nancy Bobofit was trying to pickpocket something from a lady's purse, and, of course, Mrs. Dodds wasn't seeing a thing.**

**Grover and I sat on the edge of the fountain, away from the others. We thought that maybe if we did that, everybody wouldn't know we were from **_**that **_**school—the school for loser freaks who couldn't make it elsewhere.**

**"Detention?" Grover asked.**

**"Nah," I said. "Not from Brunner. I just wish he'd lay off me sometimes. I mean—I'm not a genius."**

**Grover didn't say anything for a while. Then, when I thought he was going to give me some deep philosophical comment to make me feel better, he said, "Can I have your apple?"**

Everyone laughed at this.

"Ah, satyrs." Dionysus said fondly. He may hate heroes, but he can tolerate satyrs or any other creatures but heroes, really.

**I didn't have much of an appetite, so I let him take it.**

**I watched the stream of cabs going down Fifth Avenue, and thought about my mom's apartment, only a little ways uptown from where we sat. I hadn't seen her since Christmas. I wanted so bad to jump in a taxi and head home. **

**She'd hug me and be glad to see me, but she'd be disappointed, too. She'd send me right back to Yancy, remind me that I had to try harder, even if this was my sixth school in six years and I was probably going to be kicked out again. I wouldn't be able to stand that sad look she'd give me.**

"Awww." Demeter, Hestia, Hera, and Aphrodite sighed.

**Mr. Brunner parked his wheelchair at the base of the handicapped ramp. He ate celery while he read a paperback novel. A red umbrella stuck up from the back of his chair, making it look like a motorized cafe table.**

**I was about to unwrap my sandwich when Nancy Bobofit appeared in front of me with her ugly friends—I guess she'd gotten tired of stealing from the tourists—and dumped her half-eaten lunch in Grover's lap.**

"That nasty little girl!" Demeter yelled.

Hera turned to Artemis who looked slightly apalled. "See, Artemis dear?" She smirked smugly. "not all young maiden are as pure as you think."

The auburn haired goddess gritted her teeth. "I know." She ground out.

**"Oops." She grinned at me with her crooked teeth. Her freckles were orange, as if somebody had spray-painted her face with liquid Cheetos.**

"Attractive." Apollo said with a disgusted look on his face.

**I tried to stay cool. The school counselor had told me a million times, "Count to ten, get control of your temper." But I was so mad my mind went blank. A wave roared in my ears.**

"A _wave_?" Hades and Zeus repeated. Tone dangerously calm. Much too calm for everyone's liking. They looked at Poseidon; who chose to look at Athena instead of them, which was saying a lot.

**I don't remember touching her, but the next thing I knew, Nancy was sitting on her butt in the fountain, screaming, "Percy pushed me!"**

**Mrs. Dodds materialized next to us.**

**Some of the kids were whispering: "Did you see—"**

**"—the water—"**

**"—like it grabbed her—"**

"POSEIDON!" Both Zeus and Hades bellowed, glaring at their brother.

Poseidon sighed, "Yes, yes. I confess. The girl is my daughter."

Hades eyes lit up with fury. "Then she deserve what her older cousin, Thalia, did." A flash of pain crossed Zeus eyes but he nodded along.

Poseidon stood up angrily. "No! She's innocent!"

Surprisingly, Athena was the one that interrupted them. "Wait." She said. "Let's not make hasty decisions first."

"I agree." Artemis said. "She is still a young maiden, which is within my sphere. You shall not harm her."

"She might play an important role in the future." Aphrodite chimed in. "And I certainly must mess with her love life."

Poseidon didn't bother reprimanding Aphrodite for her purpose of defending his daughter, right now, he needed all the supporters he can get.

"The Great Prophercy is coming then." Apollo said gravely. "She plays an important role, she might be the one to save us."

"I stand by Poseidon's side as well," Hestia said calmly. "no matter, she is still family." She looked at Hera. "Don't you agree? It is also your domain is it not, Hera?"

Hera nodded begrudgingly. "Yes." She looked as if someone had forced her to say that. "Let's stand down for now."

"This discussion is NOT OVER, Brother!" Zeus said venomously.

"Read." Poseidon repeated.

**I didn't know what they were talking about. All I knew was that I was in trouble again.**

**As soon as Mrs. Dodds was sure poor little Nancy was okay, promising to get her a new shirt at the museum gift shop, etc., etc., Mrs. Dodds turned on me. There was a triumphant fire in her eyes, as if I'd done something she'd been waiting for all semester. "Now, honey—"**

**"I know," I grumbled. "A month erasing workbooks."**

**That wasn't the right thing to say.**

Hermes sighed. "No matter what happens, she shouldn't guess her punishment!" He chided softly, even though Percy couldn't possibly hear him.

**"Come with me," Mrs. Dodds said.**

**"Wait!" Grover yelped. "It was me. **_**I **_**pushed her."**

"As much as I want my niece dead," Zeus spat. "its good to see the satyr finally doing something right for once. But I still hope he would get fired though."

**I stared at him, stunned. I couldn't believe he was trying to cover for me. Mrs. Dodds scared Grover to death.**

**She glared at him so hard his whiskery chin trembled.**

**"I don't think so, Mr. Underwood," she said.**

**"But—"**

**"You—**_**will**_—**stay—here."**

**Grover looked at me desperately.**

**"It's okay, man," I told him. "Thanks for trying."**

**"Honey," Mrs. Dodds barked at me. "**_**Now**_**."**

**Nancy Bobofit smirked.**

**I gave her my deluxe I'll-kill-you-later stare.**

**Then I turned to face Mrs. Dodds, but she wasn't there. She was standing at the museum entrance, way at the top of the steps, gesturing impatiently at me to come on.**

**How'd she get there so fast?**

**I have moments like that a lot, when my brain falls asleep or something, and the next thing I know I've missed something, as if a puzzle piece fell out of the universe and left me staring at the blank place behind it. The school counselor told me this was part of the ADHD, my brain misinterpreting things.**

"That's not the case here, daughter." Poseidon said, worried. He glared at Hades who smirked smugly.

**I wasn't so sure.**

**I went after Mrs. Dodds.**

**Halfway up the steps, I glanced back at Grover. He was looking pale, cutting his eyes between me and Mr. Brunner, like he wanted Mr. Brunner to notice what was going on, but Mr. Brunner was absorbed in his novel.**

"Chiron has never been that unobservant." Hestia said worried.

**I looked back up. Mrs. Dodds had disappeared again. She was now inside the building, at the end of the entrance hall.**

**Okay, I thought. She's going to make me buy a new shirt for Nancy at the gift shop.**

**But apparently that wasn't the plan.**

**I followed her deeper into the museum. When I finally caught up to her, we were back in the Greek and Roman section.**

**Except for us, the gallery was empty.**

**Mrs. Dodds stood with her arms crossed in front of a big marble frieze of the Greek gods. She was making this weird noise in her throat, like growling.**

Everyone leaned forward him anticipation for what Apollo would read about next.

**Even without the noise, I would've been nervous. It's weird being alone with a teacher, especially Mrs. Dodds. Something about the way she looked at the frieze, as if she wanted to pulverize it...**

**"You've been giving us problems, honey," she said.**

**I did the safe thing. I said, "Yes, ma'am."**

**She tugged on the cuffs of her leather jacket. "Did you really think you would get away with it?"**

**The look in her eyes was beyond mad. It was evil.**

**She's a teacher, I thought nervously. It's not like she's going to hurt me.**

**I said, "I'll—I'll try harder, ma'am."**

**Thunder shook the building. I swallowed, I had never liked thunder or anything related much to the sky for the matter.**

Zeus smirked. At least his niece knew her place.

**"We are not fools, Percy Jackson," Mrs. Dodds said. "It was only a matter of time before we found you out. Confess, and you will suffer less pain."**

**I didn't know what she was talking about.**

**All I could think of was that the teachers must've found the illegal stash of candy I'd been selling out of my dorm room.**

"Oh yes, because that _must _be why." Athena said rolling her eyes.

**Or maybe they'd realized I got my essay on **_**Tom Sawyer **_**from the Internet without ever reading the book and now they were going to take away my grade. Or worse, they were going to make me read the book.**

"Understandable." Hermes, Apollo and Poseidon mumbled.

Athena opened her mouth to speak. But Apollo plowed one reading; he did not want Athena to spout facts of why reading is important and blah, blah, blah. They will be there all day while she explain that.

**"Well?" she demanded.**

**"Ma'am, I don't..."**

**"Your time is up," she hissed.**

**Then the weirdest thing happened. Her eyes began to glow like barbecue coals. Her fingers stretched, turning into talons. Her jacket melted into large, leathery wings. She wasn't human. She was a shriveled hag with bat wings and claws and a mouth full of yellow fangs, and she was about to slice me to ribbons.**

"You sent a Fury after my daughter . . ." Poseidon murmured at Hades in disbelief. Worry shaking his very core.

"What do you expect?" Hades rolled his eyes, completely unperturbed. "Little Thalia got that too. Why must I show special treatment to my other niece?" He sneered. "I am a fair man after all."

Zeus and Poseidon glowered at him; for different reasons.

**Then things got even stranger.**

**Mr. Brunner, who'd been out in front of the museum a minute before, wheeled his chair into the doorway of the gallery, holding a pen in his hand  
**

**"What ho, Percy!" he shouted, and tossed the pen into the air and towards me.**

**Mrs. Dodds lunged at me.**

**With a yelp, I dodged and felt talons slash the air next to my ear. I snatched the pen out of the air, but when it hit my hand, it wasn't a pen anymore. **** It was a sword—Mr. Brunner's bronze sword, which he always used on tournament day.**  


**Mrs**.** Dodds spun toward me with a murderous look in her eyes.**

**My knees were jelly. My hands were shaking so bad I almost dropped the trident.**

Ares snorted. "Bah, females. All the same"

Artemis glared at him. "Say that again?" She threatened.

Ares gulped, "Nothing."

**She snarled, "Die, honey!"**

**And she flew straight at me.**

**Absolute terror ran through my body. I did the only thing that came naturally: I swung the blade.**

**The metal blade hit her shoulder and passed clean through her body as if she were made of water. **_**Hisss!**_

"Its no surprise that she's comparing things to her element." Hades muttered resentfully.

"Ah, so it would appear as if she's connecting herself to you, Poseidon." Demeter said turning to her brother, smiling.

"Naturally." He said smugly, happily.

**Mrs. Dodds was a sand castle in a power fan. She exploded into yellow powder, vaporized on the spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulfur and a dying screech and a chill of evil in the air, as if those two glowing red eyes were still watching me.**

**I was alone.**

**There was a ****ballpoint** pen in my hand.

**Mr. Brunner wasn't there. Nobody was there but me.**

**My hands were still trembling. My lunch must've been contaminated with magic mushrooms or something.**

**Had I imagined the whole thing?**

"She's still allowing the Mist to affect her?" Hera asked, incredulous. No one answered her, again. She huffed, ignoring her are they?

**I went back outside.**

**It had started to rain.**

**Grover was sitting by the fountain, a museum map tented over his head. Nancy Bobofit was still standing there, soaked from her swim in the fountain, grumbling to her ugly friends. When she saw me, she said, "I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt."**

**I said, "Who?"**

**"Our **_**teacher.**_ **Duh!"**

**I blinked. We had no teacher named Mrs. Kerr. I asked Nancy what she was talking about.**

"Ah the mist, the sweet, sweet mist." Apollo said almost fondly.

"It won't effect my daughter," Poseidon declared smugly. "She's too powerful for that."

Zeus and Hades glared at him.

**She just rolled her eyes and turned away.**

**I asked Grover where Mrs. Dodds was.**

**He said, "Who?"**

**But he paused first, and he wouldn't look at me, so I thought he was messing with me.**

"Satyrs and their inability to lie." Hephaestus grumbled. "Automatons are much more reliable." Almost everyone rolled their eyes.

**"Not funny, man," I told him. "This is serious."**

**Thunder boomed overhead.**

**I saw Mr. Brunner sitting under his red umbrella, reading his book, as if he'd never moved.**

**I went over to him.**

**He looked up, a little distracted. "Ah, that would be my pen. Please bring your own writing utensil in the future, Mr. Jackson."**

**I handed Mr. Brunner his pen. I hadn't even realized I was still holding it.**

**"Sir," I said, "where's Mrs. Dodds?"**

**He stared at me blankly. "Who?"**

**"The other chaperone. Mrs. Dodds. The pre-algebra teacher."**

**He frowned and sat forward, looking mildly concerned. "Percy, there is no Mrs. Dodds on this trip. As far as I know, there has never been a Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy. Are you feeling all right?" **

"Now, see, Chiron can lie." Hermes said smiling. Then he frowned. "But the satyr need to be taught how to lie." He turned to Dionysus. "You should teach them that!"

Dionysus rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

"Hey!" Hermes whined.

"Whatever."

"That's the end of the chapter." Apollo beamed. "Should we take turns reading?" He waved the book around.

"Well, are we even interested in continuing?" Dionysus asked, bored. He really want to be anywhere but there.

"Yes; of course." Poseidon was the first one to agree. "Its my daughter's life here; I need to know."

"And the Fates were the ones who sent us these." Athena agreed, albeit begrudgingly. "So it must be important."

"Let's finish this then." Zeus said, sighing.

"Here, Arty sis." Apollo handed the book to his twin. "Read."

"Don't call me 'Arty' or 'sis'!" She snapped but she reached for the book anyway. "I'll read."

She cleared her throat tersely before starting.

* * *

**A/N:** _ There, the first chapter and prologue done. I hope you like it. Reviews make faster updates!_


	2. Chapter 2

**Genre:** Romance/Family

**Rated: **T

**Pairing(s):** Fem!Percy/Luke

**Summary:** AU. Percy and Luke make a good couple in my opinion. So I tweaked it a little because M/M isn't something I'm very good at writing. Percy's personality will be the same. What would happen if the gods read the books before they knew of Percy?

**Setting**: This starts on the day after Thalia is turned into her tree. So the ages are as below:

Percy: 7

Luke: 14

Annabeth: 7

**Disclaimer:** I do not own **Percy Jackson and the Olympians**

**Warning(s):** AU(Seeing as Percy's female) Obviously there will be spoilers to the books. Also I'm sorry if there are any grammar or spelling mistakes, please forgive me!

* * *

**Chapter 2: **_THREE OLD LADIES KNIT THE SOCKS OF DEATH_

* * *

"**Three Old Ladies Knit the Socks of Death," **Before Artemis could read any further, Poseidon started muttering to himself.

"Not good, not good at all." He muttered.

Athena's eyebrow twitched. "We'll find out if Artemis continue reading." She glared at him. "And it would be much faster if you shut it."

Poseidon glared at her; though he couldn't help but agree**—**much to his displeasure.

**I was used to the occasional weird experience, but usually they were over quickly.**

**This twenty-four/seven hallucination was more than I could handle. For the rest of the school year, the entire campus seemed to be playing some kind of trick on me. The students acted as if they were completely and totally convinced that Mrs. Kerr—a perky blond woman whom I'd never seen in my life until she got on our bus at the end of the field trip—had been our pre-algebra teacher since Christmas.**

**Every so often I would spring a Mrs. Dodds reference on somebody, just to see if I could trip them up, but they would stare at me like I was psycho.**

**It got so I almost believed them—Mrs. Dodds had never existed.**

**Almost.**

"Wonder what made her hesitate in believing the Mist?" Apollo asked curiously. Artemis glared at him to shut up so she could continue.

**But Grover couldn't fool me.**

"I should've known it was him." Apollo muttered. Hermes nodded; he shook his head dramatically.

"Someone need to start lying classes for the satyr." He looked at Dionysus. "You would do that on my behalf wouldn't you, dear brother?"

Dionysus acted as if he hadn't heard him.

**When I mentioned the name Dodds to him, he would hesitate, and then claim she didn't exist. But I knew he was lying.**

**Something was going on. Something **_**had **_**happened at the museum.**

"Well, _duh_." Dionysus said rolling his eyes.

**I didn't have much time to think about it during the days, but at night, visions of Mrs. Dodds with talons and leathery wings would wake me up in a cold sweat.**

Ares snorted. "Bah." He didn't dare say anything else because he really had no wish to inflict Poseidon's wrath onto his being.

**The freak weather continued, which didn't help my mood. One night, a thunderstorm blew out the windows** **in my dorm room. A few days later, the biggest tornado ever spotted in the Hudson Valley touched down only fifty miles from Yancy Academy. One of the current events we studied in social studies class was the unusual number of small planes that had gone down in sudden squalls in the Atlantic that year.**

"What got you two so mad?" Demeter asked.

"This hasn't happen yet, you know?" Zeus huffed.

"How do you expect us to know?" Poseidon rolled his eyes. He was more interested in finding out what would happen in his daughter's life than hear them asking questions they do not know about. Yet.

**I started feeling cranky and irritable most of the time. My grades slipped from D's to F's.**

Athena winced. "That bad?" She sighed dramatically. "I should've known." She looked at Poseidon, smirking. "She's your daughter after all."

Poseidon glared at everyone that snickered. "Continue, Artemis."

Said goddess did.

I got into more fights with Nancy Bobofit and her friends. I was sent out into the hallway in almost every class.

"I hope she doesn't just stand there." Hermes said. "She should go cause some mischief."

"She's not your daughter." Hera snapped. "Why would she?"

Hermes kept his words to himself. If he opened his mouth, the words that came out wouldn't be pretty.

**Finally, when our English teacher, Mr. Nicoll, asked me for the millionth time why I was too lazy to study for spelling tests, I snapped. I called him an old sot. I wasn't even sure what it meant, but it sounded good.**

"It means..." Athena began, ready to explain, as always.

"We don't care." Ares interrupted her.

**The headmaster sent my mom a letter the following week, making it official: I would not be invited back next year to Yancy Academy.**

**Fine, I told myself. Just fine.**

**I was homesick.**

**I wanted to be with my mom in our little apartment on the Upper East Side, even if I had to go to public school and put up with my obnoxious stepfather and his stupid poker parties.**

Poseidon frowned but didn't say anything. He did not approve of the girl's step-father at all. He wished he could at least do something to help. But, unfortunately not, because of some rules. He shot a pointed look at Zeus and Hera.

**And yet... there were things I'd miss at Yancy. The view** **of the woods outside my dorm window, the Hudson River in the distance, the smell of pine trees. I'd miss Grover, who'd been a good friend,** **even if he was a little strange.**

**I worried how he'd survive next year without me.**

Artemis smiled fondly. "Ah, worried about a friend. What a nice girl you have there, Poseidon." Then she frowned. "Even if that concern is for a male friend."

"She can choose who she makes friends with, Artemis." Hestia said.

**I'd miss Latin class, too—Mr. Brunner's crazy tournament days and his faith that I could do well.**

**As exam week got closer, Latin was the only test I studied for.**

**I hadn't forgotten what Mr. Brunner had told me about this subject being life-and-death for me. I wasn't sure why, but I'd started to believe him.**

"As she should." Hestia said. "The more she knows about her heritage and the danger it brings her, the better."

Poseidon nodded in agreement.

**The evening before my final, I got so frustrated I threw the **_**Cambridge Guide to Greek Mythology **_**across my dorm room. **

"Why would she do something like that?" Athena demanded. She couldn't believe the nerve of the girl. No appreciation for learning, really her father's daughter.

"It explains in the next paragraph if you would just let me read." Artemis countered.

**Words had started swimming off the page, circling my head, the letters doing one-eighties as if they were riding skateboards. There was no way I was going to remember the difference between Chiron and Charon,**

"But the differences between them are so obvious." Ares commented.

Athena rolled her eyes. "I doubt she had ever met any of them-"

"That's where you're wrong, niece." Hades interrupted. "Mr, Brunner is undoubtedly Chiron."

Athena immediately corrected herself. "-in their true forms. She just wasn't sure whether, say, Chiron had the 'i' or the 'a' in his name."

"Like we need you tell us that." Aphrodite muttered.

"The girl's reason are her own." Hermes said quietly, hoping that Athena wouldn't hear him.

**or Polydictes and Polydeuces. And conjugating those Latin verbs? Forget it.**

**I paced the room, feeling like ants were crawling around inside my shirt.**

**I remembered Mr. Brunner's serious expression, his thousand-year-old eyes. **_**I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson.**_

**I took a deep breath. I picked up the mythology book.**

**I'd never asked a teacher for help before. **

"Her father's fault." Athena muttered.

Poseidon furrowed his eyebrows. "What do you mean by that?"

"She's too proud to admit her incompetence; just like her father, no?" Athena smirked.

Poseidon growled. "Leave her out of this." He looked at Zeus. "It runs in the family."

"Eyes off." Zeus snapped. "Artemis, go on before I decide to have _seafood_ for dinner."

She did; just before Poseidon opened his mouth to say anything.

**Maybe if I talked to Mr. Brunner, he could give me some pointers. At least I could apologize for the big fat F I was about to score on his exam. I didn't want to leave Yancy Academy with him thinking I hadn't tried.**

**I walked downstairs to the faculty offices. Most of them were dark and empty, but Mr. Brunner's door was ajar, light from his window stretching across the hallway floor.**

**I was three steps from the door handle when I heard voices inside the office. Mr. Brunner asked a question. A voice that was definitely Grover's said,**

_**"...**_ **worried about Percy, sir."**

**I froze.**

**I'm not usually an eavesdropper,** **but I dare you to try not listening if you hear your best friend talking about you to an adult.**

"Impossible." Apollo said. "Definitely impossible."

"I won't be able to do it." Hermes admitted, not at all ashamed of what he had said. "I would just eavesdrop."

"If you have more cereal, then-" Demeter started to say something along the lines of 'cereal will make this and that better'. Hades waved frantically for Artemis to continue.

**I inched closer.**

**"... alone this summer," Grover was saying. "I mean, a Kindly One in the **_**school**_**! Now that we know for sure, and **_**they **_**know too—"**

**"We would only make matters worse by rushing her," Mr. Brunner said. "We need the girl to mature more."**

**"But she may not have time. The summer solstice dead line— **_**"**_

"Wait, time out, what deadline?" Dionysus was one of the more quiet ones, so it was surprising to hear him ask a question.

"This happens in the future, how should we know something like that?" Zeus demanded, incredulous and impatient.

"So is it that surprising that whatever happens in there is something we don't know about?" Hera supported her husband.

"What's more surprising is that you're even paying attention." Aphrodite said.

"I'm insulted." Dionysus mocked hurt.

**"Will have to be resolved without her, Grover. Let her enjoy her ignorance while she still can."**

**"Sir, she **_**saw **_**her... ."**

**"Her imagination," Mr. Brunner insisted. "The Mist over the students and staff will be enough to convince her of that."**

**"Sir, I ... I can't fail in my duties again." **

"You shouldn't even be allowed to continue your job!" Zeus thundered. Literally.

"Peace, brother." Poseidon said. "He may redeem himself if he managed to get my daughter to camp safely."

"If being the keyword." Hades spat menacingly.

"You will not harm her!" Poseidon snarled.

Ares looked excited. A fight it is.

"You just said 'peace'." Athena pointed out. "Now you're the one getting the most hostile."

That stopped Poseison from doing anything rash. For his dignity, he sat down and looked away as Artemis continued; but he did pay attention to what she was saying.

**Grover's voice was choked with emotion. "You know what that would mean."**

**"You haven't failed, Grover," Mr. Brunner said kindly. "I should have seen her for what she was. Now let's just worry about keeping Percy alive until next fall—"**

**The mythology book dropped out of my hand and hit the floor with a thud.**

"Damn, she blew her cover." Hermes cursed. "She shouldn't have been so careless."

**Mr. Brunner went silent.**

**My heart hammering, I picked up the book and backed down the hall.**

**A shadow slid across the lighted glass of Brunner's office door, the shadow of something much taller than my wheelchair-bound teacher, holding something that looked suspiciously like an archer's bow.**

**I opened the nearest door and slipped inside.**

**A few seconds later I heard a slow **_**clop-clop-clop, **_**like muffled wood blocks, then a sound like an animal snuffling right outside my door. A large, dark shape paused in front of the glass, and then moved on.**

**A bead of sweat trickled down my neck.**

Poseidon let out a sigh of relief that his daughter was safe. Chiron might accidentally shoot her and she could get hurt.

**Somewhere in the hallway, Mr. Brunner spoke. "Nothing," he murmured. "My nerves haven't been right since the winter solstice."**

**"Mine neither," Grover said. "But I could have sworn ..."**

**"Go back to the dorm," Mr. Brunner told him. "You've got a long day of exams tomorrow."**

**"Don't remind me."**

"I really don't understand why satyrs would choose this career," Dionysus whined. "This is simply troublesome."

"You're worried about the satyrs?" Artemis asked, incredulous. Her half-brother never showed any concern for anyone openly before.

"I would loose my servants if they all get killed doing something as stupid as that!" Dionysus pouted childishly.

Hephaestus mumbled. "That's why automatons are a better choice."

**The lights went out in Mr. Brunner's office.**

**I waited in the dark for what seemed like forever.**

**Finally, I slipped out into the hallway and made my way back up to the dorm.**

**Grover was lying on his bed, studying his Latin exam notes like he'd been there all night.**

**"Hey," he said, bleary-eyed. "You going to be ready for this test?"**

**I didn't answer.**

**"You look awful." He frowned. "Is everything okay?"**

**"Just... tired."**

**I turned so he couldn't read my expression, **

"That won't work with a satyr. They can read your emotions." Dionysus said, then sighed. "But, obviously, she didn't know that."

**and started getting ready for bed. Not in front of Grover of course.**

**I didn't understand what I'd heard downstairs. I wanted to believe I'd imagined the whole thing.**

"I can't believe anyone else would let the Mist effect them after what had happened!" Athena sighed, this girl was definitely her father's _beloved_ daughter. "Oh wait, I can."

Poseidon huffed childishly.

**But one thing was clear: Grover and Mr. Brunner were talking about me behind my back. They thought I was in some kind of danger.**

"That's because you are." Ares said happily.

**The next afternoon, as I was leaving the three-hour Latin exam,**

Everyone but Athena. Demeter and Hestia cringed. Even Hades and Zeus sympathize Percy.

Noticing this, Athena glared. "I can't believe you are all like that!"

"Well, we aren't automatons with-" Hephaestus started but was cut off by Demeter.

"More cereals will help!"

"Ignore her." Hades said. "You're the goddess of wisdom. Not us."

"So cut us some slack." Apollo added helpfully.

**my eyes swimming with all the Greek and Roman names I'd misspelled, Mr. Brunner called me back inside.**

**For a moment, I was worried he'd found out about my eavesdropping the night before, but that didn't seem to be the problem.**

**"Percy," he said. "Don't be discouraged about leaving Yancy. It's ... it's for the best."**

Poseidon moaned in dismay. "Where's Chiron's tact?"

"Someone teach him some tact." Artemis said. "He's hurting her heart with his blunt words."

"So tactless." Hephaestus said. "Automatons would be very reliable in situation such as these, they could say what they're programmed to."

"That's if," Hera said. "the person that programmed them are tactful. If not, then the results would be the same."

"Worse actually." Hades said. "Robots speak mechanically. In a mortal's point of view, it would be completely heartless."

"Which wouldn't help things." Hermes summed things up.

**His tone was kind, but the words still embarrassed me. Even though he was speaking quietly, the other kids finishing the test could hear. Nancy Bobofit smirked at me and made sarcastic little kissing motions with her lips.**

Hera made a face of disdain. "Disgusting little girl." Only she would be able to pull off doing something like that with grace.

**I mumbled, "Okay, sir."**

**"I mean ..." Mr. Brunner wheeled his chair back and forth, like he wasn't sure what to say. "This isn't the right place for you. It was only a matter of time."**

"Calm down Brother. I'm sure Chiron doesn't mean it like that." Hestia said soothingly to her Poseidon when his face grew stormy.

**My eyes stung.**

"What a _wimp_!"Ares stated shaking his head and chuckling. But he snapped his mouth shut when Poseidon turned to glare at him.

**Here was my favorite teacher, in front of the class, telling me I couldn't handle it. After saying he believed in me all year, now he was telling me I was destined to get kicked out.**

"That must be heart breaking." Aphrodite agreed. Then she squealed. "But I'll make her love life much more interesting!"

"It would be nice if you don't interfere." Poseidon muttered.

"Or, he would be chasing suitors for her away with his trident." Apollo snickered under his breath at his own joke.

**"Right," I said, trembling.**

**"No, no," Mr. Brunner said. "Oh, confound it all. What I'm trying to say ... you're not normal, Percy. That's nothing to be—"**

"Yes, Chiron! That makes _everything_ better." Dionysus said, sarcasm leaking.

**"Thanks," I blurted. "Thanks a lot, sir, for reminding me."**

**"Percy—"**

**But I was already gone.**

**On the last day of the term, I shoved my clothes into my suitcase.**

**The other guys were joking around, talking about their vacation plans. One of them was going on a hiking trip to Switzerland. Another was cruising the Caribbean for a month. They were juvenile delinquents, like me, but they were **_**rich **_**juvenile delinquents. Their daddies were executives, or ambassadors, or celebrities. I was a nobody, from a family of nobodies.**

"Is she knew who her family is from her father's side." Zeus grumbled. "She wouldn't even think that."

"Too bad she doesn't." Poseidon spat resentfully, looking at him.

**They asked me what I'd be doing this summer and I told them I was going back to the city.**

**What I didn't tell them was that I'd have to get a summer job walking dogs or selling magazine subscriptions, and spend my free time worrying about where I'd go to school in the fall.**

**"Oh," one of the guys said. "That's cool."**

**They went back to their conversation as if I'd never existed.**

**The only person I dreaded saying good-bye to was Grover, but as it turned out, I didn't have to. He'd booked a ticket to Manhattan on the same Greyhound as I had,**

"Wow, _what_ a coincidence." Dionysus said sarcastically. Being sarcastic, was one of the things he excelled at. Annoying others follow up closely.

**so there we were, together again, heading into the city.**

**During the whole bus ride, Grover kept glancing nervously down the aisle, watching the other passengers. It occurred to me that he'd always acted nervous and fidgety when we left Yancy, as if he expected something bad to happen.**

**Before, I'd always assumed he was worried about getting teased. But there was nobody to tease him on the Greyhound.**

**Finally I couldn't stand it anymore.**

**I said, "Looking for Kindly Ones?"**

Hermes smirked. "She got him whipped."

"I hope there isn't any other meaning in there." Poseidon warned.

Hermes gulped. "Nothing, absolutely nothing." He squeaked.

**Grover nearly jumped out of his seat. "What—what do you mean?"**

**I confessed about eavesdropping on him and Mr. Brunner the night before the exam.**

"The satyr's face must be priceless to see." Dionysus muttered. Hermes and Apollo nodded in agreement.

"Only to you three." Hera snapped. "Non one else agree."

Artemis continued on as if nothing had happened.

**Grover's eye twitched. "How much **_**did **_**you hear?"**

**"Oh ... not much. What's the summer solstice dead-line?"**

**He winced. "Look, Percy ... I was just worried for you, see? I mean, hallucinating about demon math teachers …"**

**"Grover—"**

**"And I was telling Mr. Brunner that maybe you were overstressed or something, because there was no such person as Mrs. Dodds, and ..."**

"If we are there, listening to him talk, we may just be able to judge how horrible he is at lying." Hades grunted.

"He needs to eat more cereals so he can lie properly." Demeter put in. Hades ignored her.

"Just being here, listening to Artemis read how he lie, I can already tell." Ares shook his head.

"Satyr, you're a really, really, bad liar." Poseidon remarked.

**"Grover, you're a really, really bad liar."**

Poseidon smiled proudly. His daughter inherited quite a lot of his qualities; he was proud of that. No matter what others say or think.

Hades and Zeus, seeing how their brother practically glowing with pride and happiness felt twinges of envy. Zeus daughter was now a tree, he didn't know whether she still lives in her new form or not; Hades' children were still trapped in time at some hotel, he didn't know whether they could ever rejoin the world.

**His ears turned pink.**

**From his shirt pocket, he fished out a grubby business card. "Just take this, okay? In case you need me this summer.**

**The card was in fancy script, which was murder on my dyslexic eyes, but I finally made out something like:**

_**Grover Underwood**_

_**Keeper**_

_**Half-Blood Hill**_

_**Long Island, New York**_

_**(800)**_ _**009-0009**_

"Half-Bloods are _DYSLEXIC_! Why do you make business cards in a fancy script?" Artemis stopped reading to look at Dionysus, disbelief in her eyes. As did all of the other Olympians.

Dionysus smiled sweetly. "I enjoy watching them suffer."

Those that had half-blood children threw dirty looks at him.

Zeus snapped. "Keep this up and you'll be spending another century there."

"I'll organize a change immediately." Dionysus smile fell off instantly when he heard the threat. "I swear it on the River Styx."

Thunder boomed overhead. And Dionysus disappeared in a swirl of grape leaves.

"Should we wait for him to return first?" Hestia asked.

"We should." Hephaestus agreed.

They waited.

"Done." Dionysus plopped back onto his throne once he appeared on Olympus. "Read on, Artemis."

**"What's Half—"**

**"Don't say it aloud!" he yelped. "That's my, um ... summer address."**

**My heart sank. Grover had a summer home. I'd never considered that his family might be as rich as the others at Yancy.**

**"Okay," I said glumly. "So, like, if I want to come visit your mansion."**

**He nodded. "Or...or if you need me."**

**"Why would I need you?"**

**It came out harsher than I meant it to.**

**Grover blushed right down to his Adam's apple. "Look, Percy, the truth is, I—I kind of have to protect you."**

**I stared at him.**

**All year long, I'd gotten in fights, keeping bullies away from him. I'd lost sleep worrying that he'd get beaten up next year without me.**

Athena gave a grudging smile of approval. "You have a nice daughter there; her only downside is her intellect and her godly heritage."

"Hey!" Poseidon protested. "I resent the latter part!"

**And here he was acting like he was the one who defended **_**me.**_

**"Grover," I said, "What exactly are you protecting me from?"**

**There was a huge grinding noise under our feet. Black smoke poured from the dashboard and the whole bus filled with a smell like rotten eggs.**

"I'm so glad that I ain't there." Ares laughed. "It must have been hard for them. Poor sods."

"Since when did you care?" Artemis shot back.

"Quiet." Hera snapped. "Continue, dear step-daughter." The last part was said with dripping venom and sarcasm.

Apollo barely managed to suppress the growl that rose in his throat. He hated it when people threatened his sister. Hermes patted his arm comfortingly to calm him down.

**The driver cursed and steered the Greyhound over to the side of the highway.**

**After a few minutes clanking around in the engine compartment, the driver announced that we'd all have to get off. Grover and I filed outside with everybody else.**

**We were on a stretch of country road—no place you'd notice if you didn't break down there. On our side of the highway was nothing but maple trees and litter from passing cars. On the other side, across four lanes of asphalt shimmering with afternoon heat, was an old-fashioned fruit stand.**

Hades waved at Artemis to read before Demeter can get a comment in. Zeus and Poseidon nodded, agreeing with their father. Most of the other Olympians either didn't care—Dionysus and Hephaestus—or were grateful to escape the rants concerning cereals.

**The stuff on sale looked really good: heaping boxes of blood red cherries and apples, walnuts and apricots, jugs of cider in a claw-foot tub full of ice**_**. **_**There were no customers, just three old ladies sitting in rocking chairs in the shade of a maple tree, knitting the biggest pair of socks I'd ever seen.**

Poseidon nearly choked on his own saliva. "The Fates . . . " He waited; anticipating what was about to happen. All the while ignoring the sympathetic looks he was getting from his family.

**I mean these socks were the size of sweaters, but they were clearly socks. The lady on the right knitted one of them. The lady on the left knitted the other. The lady in the middle held an enormous basket of electric-blue yarn.**

**All three women looked ancient, with pale faces wrinkled like fruit leather, silver hair tied back in white bandannas, bony arms sticking out of bleached cotton dresses.**

"The Fates; its definitely them." Hera murmured.

"Oh, I can't wait to see how this turn out." Hades muttered. Truth was, anything related to the Fates were either horrible or life-threatening so he really wasn't looking forward to it.

**The weirdest thing was, they seemed to be looking right at me.**

"Oh no." Poseidon's voice wavered, laced with worry. His face was getting as pale as Hades' albino white skin.

**I looked over at Grover to say something about this and saw that the blood had drained from his face. His nose was twitching.**

**"Grover?" I said. "Hey, man—"**

**"Tell me they're not looking at you. They are, aren't they?"**

"That spineless satyr has to stop trying to trap himself and others in delusions." Zeus said, venom clear in his voice. No one reprimanded him, all waiting to see what would happen next; they all waited with baited breaths except for those that could barely care.

**"Yeah. Weird, huh? You think those socks would fit me?" I laughed nervously.**

"Not funny at all." For the ever-cheerful-ever-kidding Hermes to say that means that things were really bad.

**"Not funny, Percy. Not funny at all."**

**The old lady in the middle took out a huge pair of scissors—gold and silver, long-bladed, like shears.**

Poseidon looked as if someone had sucker punched him. He made a strangled sound, as if he was being strangled. His only daughter—first daughter ever—was in danger and someone might as well have choked him. Even Hades and Zeus looked at him with sympathy.

**I heard Grover catch his breath.**

**"We're getting on the bus," he told me. "Come on."**

"For once, listened to him, girl." Zeus said quietly.

"Get out of there." Hera hissed. Concern was displayed on her flawless features, which was rather odd as she hated demi-gods in general, regardless of their parentage.

**"What?" I said. "It's a thousand degrees in there."**

**"Come on!'" He pried open the door and climbed inside, but I stayed back.**

Apollo cursed in ancient Greek. Artemis looked pain for the young maiden that might be in danger.

**Across the road, the old ladies were still watching me. The middle one cut the yarn, and I swear I could hear that **_**snip **_**across four lanes of traffic.**

Poseidon looked ready to faint. Awkwardly, Hades reached over and patted his younger brother's arm. "Err . . . she will be . . . fine?" He glared at Zeus, imploring the youngest brother to do something.

"Um . . . maybe." Hera kicked him underneath the table. "I mean yes. She'll be perfectly fine." He corrected, nodding.

Poseidon let out a sigh of despair. "Let's hope so . . ." He mumbled dejectedly. He really appreciate his brothers' effort at comforting him but he was too depressed and worried to really think about it.

Unseen by anyone, Hestia grinned. Her family was finally coming together.

**Her two friends balled up the electric-blue socks, leaving me wondering who they could possibly be for—Sasquatch or Godzilla.**

**At the rear of the bus, the driver wrenched a big chunk of smoking metal out of the engine compartment. The bus shuddered, and the engine roared back to life.**

**The passengers cheered.**

**"Darn right!" yelled the driver. He slapped the bus with his hat. "Everybody back on board!"**

**Once we got going, I started feeling feverish, as if I'd caught the flu.**

The council offered no words. Knowing that saying anything else might just make Poseidon faint.

**Grover didn't look much better. He was shivering and his teeth were chattering.**

**"Grover?"**

**"Yeah?"**

**"What are you not telling me?"**

**He dabbed his forehead with his shirt sleeve. "Percy, what did you see back at the fruit stand?"**

**"You mean the old ladies? What is it about them, man? They're not like ... Mrs. Dodds, are they?"**

"They're much worse, daughter." Poseidon's voice was quiet and somber. "You can't fight them like you did Furies."

**His expression was hard to read, but I got the feeling that the fruit-stand ladies were something much, much worse than Mrs. Dodds. He said, "Just tell me what you saw."**

**"The middle one took out her scissors, and she cut the yarn."**

**He closed his eyes and made a gesture with his fingers that might've been crossing himself, but it wasn't. It was something else, something almost—older.**

"She's observant." Athena praised. She was cutting the child and her father some slack; things were already bad enough as it is, no need to make things worse.

**He said, "You saw her snip the cord."**

**"Yeah. So?" But even as I said it, I knew it was a big deal.**

**"This is not happening," Grover mumbled. He started chewing at his thumb. "I don't want this to be like the last time."**

"And it will not _be like last time_." Poseidon promised, expression determined.

Hestia sighed, they're back to fighting again. But surprisingly, Hades disagreed. "No, not now. We'll talk later once things are finished."

"The world is ending." Apollo muttered jokingly when even Zeus agreed. Hermes nodded seriously.

"This is bad."

"Boys." Artemis made a disgusted noise at the back of her throat.

**"What last time?"**

**"Always sixth grade. They never get past sixth."**

**"Grover," I said, because he was really starting to scare me. "What are you talking about?"**

"Talking about when he failed his first mission." Zeus replied the book-verse Percy. "where my daughter was turned into a tree."

"You turned her into a tree yourself." Hera muttered.

"I never thought it would be permanent!" Zeus bellowed.

Hera swiveled her head to glare at him. "You would not talk to me that way!" Man, if looks could kill, he'd be six-feet-under already. Zeus hastily sat down.

Artemis continued reading to save her father from any other troubles.

**"Let me walk you home from the bus station. Promise me."**

**This seemed like a strange request to me, but I promised he could.**

**"Is this like a superstition or something?" I asked.**

**No answer.**

**"Grover—that snipping of the yarn. Does that mean somebody is going to die?"**

"Too true, too true." Poseidon said.

"Let's hope not." Demeter grimaced. "She should eat more cereal so she should be healthy and not die."

Hades glared at her. "You insufferable wheat-germ, would you shut it?" He snapped. "Poseidon's depressed enough as it is, are you trying to make him wither on the spot?"

Everyone stared at him, shocked that he had defended his brother when they had just argued an hour ago. Hades shifted awkwardly, coughing. "Old habits, old habits." He repeated, pink tints appearing on his cheeks.

"Old habits?" Zeus asked, curious. He had never lived nor did her grew up in their father's belly so he did not know of their childhood.

The children of Kronos were too embarrassed to reply. Except for one. And that one was who Apollo and Hermes looked at for answers. Hestia smiled indulgently.

"Something like that happened once," She explained; the others groaned. "Demeter was always teasing Poseidon, back in our childhood." Her eyes shone with mirth. "And Hades was always the one that stood up for him. repeating the same things he just said."

Hades coughed, embarrassed. "Shut it, Hestia." They snickered at his red face.

"Thank you, brother." Poseidon smiled.

"This isn't over." Hades groaned.

Zeus stared, envious. Sure, he was sure he wouldn't like living in their father's stomach, but at least he can grow up with his siblings. He was lonely, back when he only trained for power; his only company was his mother who always reminded him constantly to work harder to save his siblings. There are reasons why he always argued with Poseidon about who Mother Rhea liked best. He vehemently shoved down the jealousy that blossomed in his chest.

"Continue reading, Artemis." He ordered. His daughter complied quickly.

**He looked at me mournfully, like he was already picking the kind of flowers I'd like best on my coffin.**

"That is the end of the chapter." Artemis declared. She put the book on the table. "Who wants to read next?"

"Me." Demeter snatched the book before anyone can reach for it.

"Oh wonderful." Hades rolled his eyes. As if he hadn't heard enough of his sister constant ranting when she visited her daughter; his wife, Persephone in the Underworld.

"Well . . . then." Demeter cleared her throat. "I'm starting now."

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**A/N: **_sorry for the late update. I was busy._ _Hope you have enjoyed this chapter! Review makes for faster Updates! =D_


	3. Chapter 3

**Genre:** Romance/Family

**Rated: **T

**Pairing(s):** Fem!Percy/Luke

**Summary:** AU. Percy and Luke make a good couple in my opinion. So I tweaked it a little because M/M isn't something I'm very good at writing. Percy's personality will be the same. What would happen if the gods read the books before they knew of Percy?

**Setting**: This starts on the day after Thalia is turned into her tree. So the ages are as below:

Percy: 7

Luke: 14

Annabeth: 7

**Disclaimer:** I do not own **Percy Jackson and the Olympians**

**Warning(s):** AU(Seeing as Percy's female) Obviously there will be spoilers to the books. Also I'm sorry if there are any grammar or spelling mistakes, please forgive me!

**Author's Note:** _Someone suggested that I could bring someone from the future. Please vote in my profile as to who you want it to be or you can leave a review. Just so you know, this will ignore the next series after PJO._

* * *

**Chapter 3: GROVER UNEXPECTEDLY LOSES HIS PANTS**

* * *

"I hope it isn't something inappropriate." Poseidon muttered. "else I'll castrate him myself."

"I'll help you." Zeus grumbled. "Its his fault my daughter got turned into a tree."

Hades sighed. "Poor niece." He said. Everyone could tell he wasn't the least bit sincere.

**Confession time: I ditched Grover as soon as we got to the bus terminal.**

"Idiot child." Athena said rolling her eyes. "Like father like daughter. I can practically see why you're related."

"I resent the idiot part; but I'll tale the part where we are similar as a compliment."

"Ugh!"

**I know, I know. It was rude. But Grover was freaking me out, looking at me like I was a dead man, muttering "Why does this always happen?" and "Why does it always have to be sixth grade?"**

**Whenever he got upset, Grover's bladder acted up, so I wasn't surprised when, as soon as we got off the bus, he made me promise to wait for him, then made a beeline for the restroom.**

"See what I mean by automatons being more reliable?" Hephaestus grumbled.

"Just this once, I agree with you." Poseidon said.

**Instead of waiting, I got my suitcase, slipped outside, and caught the first taxi uptown.**

**"East One-hundred-and-fourth and First," I told the driver.**

**A word about my mother, before you meet her.**

Aphrodite leaned forward eagerly. She wanted to learn about the woman that managed to capture Poseidon's attention.

**Her name is Sally Jackson and she's the best person in the world, which just proves my theory that the best people have the rottenest luck.**

Poseidon scowled. "Why are you scowling?" Hestia asked.

"It will definitely be mention in the book later." Poseidon replied gruffly.

Demeter read on quickly, wanting to find out what had brought on such a reaction.

**Her own parents died in a plane crash when she was five, **

Here, Poseidon threw a dirty look at Zeus who scowled back. Everyone ignored the two brothers antics.

**and she was raised by an uncle who didn't care much about her. She wanted to be a novelist, so she spent high school working to save enough money for a college with a good creative-writing program.**

Athena nodded in approval. "I'm pleasantly surprised, Poseidon."

"What do you mean by that?" Said god snapped.

"You have good taste." Athena said. "She's smart. You're undeserving of her."

"Hey!"

**Then her uncle got cancer, and she had to quit school her senior year to take care of him. After he died, she was left with no money, no family, and no diploma**.

"I can see what she meant by having horrible luck." Apollo grinned. "Uncle, you should hope that your daughter has no such luck."

"Your uncle, has bad luck as well, what chances does the girl have of getting good luck?" Hades and a few others snickered.

**The only good break she ever got was meeting my dad.**

Poseidon smiled. Aphrodite grinned.

**I don't have any memories of him, just this sort of warm glow, maybe the barest trace of his smile. **

"I visited you once my son." Poseidon admitted fondly.

**My mom doesn't like to talk about him because it makes her sad. She has no pictures.**

**See, they weren't married. She told me he was rich and important, and their relationship was a secret. Then one day, he set sail across the Atlantic on some important journey, and he never came back.**

**Lost at sea, my mom told me. Not dead. Lost at sea.**

"Not the complete truth or lie." Hermes nodded approvingly. "You are the sea; just that you're not lost, but somewhere in there. Since she doesn't know which part and heard no news from you, you can be considered lost."

"She can't be classified as a liar." Ares said. "Why are you so happy then?"

"I'm just praising her." Hermes retorted.

**She worked odd jobs, took night classes to get her high school diploma, and raised me on her own. She never complained or got mad. Not even once. But I knew I wasn't an easy kid.**

**Finally, she married Gabe Ugliano,**

Poseidon's eyes darkened to a murky sea color. But he made no comment.

**who was nice the first thirty seconds we knew him,**

**then showed his true colors as a world-class jerk. When I was young, I nick named him Smelly Gabe. I'm sorry, but it's the truth. **

"Your daughter's quite polite." Athena remarked. "Must be from her mother."

"Will you stop insulting me?" Poseidon demanded.

"Hmph. After what happened? Never."

**The guy reeked like moldy garlic pizza wrapped in gym shorts.**

**Between the two of us, we made my mom's life pretty hard. The way Smelly Gabe treated her, the way he and I got along ... well, when I came home is a good example.**

**I walked into our little apartment, hoping my mom would be home from work. Instead, Smelly Gabe was in the living room, playing poker with his buddies. The television blared ESPN. Chips and beer cans were strewn all over the carpet.**

The females made various faces of disgust. Even the males grimaced.

**Hardly looking up, he said around his cigar, "So, you're home."**

**"Where's my mom?"**

**"Working," he said. "You got any cash?"**

"What?" Hera spat, eyes blazing. "This is how he greets his step-daughter?"

"Unbelievable." Hestia said.

"Unforgivable." Demeter muttered. For once, she didn't say anything about cereal.

Artemis made no comment, which was strange. But Apollo knew she was fuming in anger. The way this 'Smelly Gabe' act, only served to make Artemis think men to be dirtier than pig.

"That was it. No '_Welcome back. Good to see you. How has your life been the last six months?' _" Poseidon hissed in anger. "Ugh. What did she see in this man anyway? She should divorce him."

"You wouldn't know." Athena muttered. If her suspicions were right, then this woman was selfless. A perfect example of a mother.

**That was it. No **_**Welcome back. Good to see you. How has your life been the last six months?**_

Poseidon allowed a small smile to grace his face for a moment at the similarity he had with his daughter.

**Gabe had put on weight. He looked like a tuskless walrus in thrift-store clothes. He had about three hairs on his head, all combed over his bald scalp, as if that made him handsome or something.**

Poseidon sneered. "Never."

"He should be punished after death." Hera snapped. She looked at Hades. "I am sure you know what to do."

"Absolutely."

**He managed the Electronics Mega-Mart in Queens, but he stayed home most of the time. I don't know why he hadn't been fired long before. He just kept on collecting paychecks, spending the money on cigars that made me nauseous, and on beer, of course. Always beer. Whenever I was home, he expected me to provide his gambling funds. He called that our "father-daughter secret." Meaning, if I told my mom, he would punch my lights out.**

"What kind of man is he?" Artemis nearly screamed.

"He's bringing shame to our gender." Apollo muttered.

"This is horrible." Hestia said sadly. She looked at Poseidon, finding it odd that he has not said anything. His eyes were now a very dark green; his expression was unreadable. Which was scary.

**"I don't have any cash," I told him.**

**He raised a greasy eyebrow.**

**Gabe could sniff out money like a bloodhound, which was surprising, since his own smell should've covered up everything else.**

**"You took a taxi from the bus station," he said. "Probably paid with a twenty. Got six, seven bucks in change. Somebody expects to live under this roof, he ought to carry his own weight. Am I right, Eddie?"**

"He is despicable." Zeus grumbled.

**Eddie, the super of the apartment building, looked at me with a twinge of sympathy. "Come on, Gabe," he said. "The girl just got here."**

"At least he's semi-decent." Demeter huffed.

**"Am I **_**right**_**?**_**" **_**Gabe repeated.**

**Eddie scowled into his bowl of pretzels. The other two guys passed gas in harmony.**

Everyone gagged and made faces.

**"Fine," I said. I dug a wad of dollars out of my pocket and threw the money on the table. "I hope you lose."**

"Who wants him to win?" Hermes rolled his eyes.

"I'm sure he couldn't out-gamble anyone." Dionysus commented, yawning.

**"Your report card came, brain girl!" he shouted after me. "I wouldn't act so snooty!"**

**I slammed the door to my room, which really wasn't my room. During school months, it was Gabe's "study." He didn't study anything in there except old car magazines, but he loved shoving my stuff in the closet, leaving his muddy boots on my windowsill, and doing his best to make the place smell like his nasty cologne and cigars and stale beer.**

"Has he ever heard of the word privacy?" Hephaestus asked to no one in particular. He loved his privacy. He would hate for anyone to enter his workshop without permission.

"Doubt it." Apollo replied. Artemis' eyes flashed in anger. If the description of the man got any worse, he was pretty sure she would spit fire or pulverize the man herself.

**I dropped my suitcase on the bed. Home sweet home.**

**Gabe's smell was almost worse than the nightmares about Mrs. Dodds,** **or the sound of that old fruit lady's shears snipping the yarn.**

**But as soon as I thought that, my legs felt weak. I remembered Grover's look of panic—how he'd made me promise I wouldn't go home without him. A sudden chill rolled through me. I felt like someone—something—was looking for me right now, maybe pounding its way up the stairs, growing long, horrible talons.**

"There probably are, but we can't know for sure as you have ditched your satyr." Dionysus injected.

"You're not helping in calming my nerves." Poseidon groaned. "I'm still worried about that."

"Like a good father should." Hestia piped up.

**Then I heard my mom's voice. "Percy?"**

**She opened the bedroom door, and my fears melted.**

**My mother can make me feel good just by walking into the room.**

Hera smiled. "As a good mother should."

"Right," Hephaestus rolled his eyes. "Too bad I have no such mother." He drawled.

Hera looked hurt. She regretted doing what she did centuries ago; and she had only confided with Hestia on this matter,

**Her eyes sparkle and change color in the light. Her smile is as warm as a quilt. She's got a few gray streaks mixed in with her long brown hair, but I never think of her as old. When she looks at me, it's like she's seeing all the good things about me, none of the bad.**

**I've never heard her raise her voice or say an unkind word to anyone, not even me or Gabe.**

**"Oh, Percy." She hugged me tight. "I can't believe it. You've grown since Christmas!"**

**Her red-white-and-blue Sweet on America uniform smelled like the best things in the world: chocolate, licorice, and all the other stuff she sold at the candy shop in Grand Central. She'd brought me a huge bag of "free samples," the way she always did when I came home.**

**We sat together on the edge of the bed. While I attacked the blueberry sour strings, she ran her hand through my hair and demanded to know everything I hadn't put in my letters. She didn't mention anything about my getting expelled. She didn't seem to care about that. But was I okay? Was her little girl doing all right? She was extra worried seeing as she knew I was cross-dressing as a guy.**

"The perfect mother." Demeter seemed proud, "A _very_ good choice in woman, brother."

"Thank you, Demeter. She was a very good choice." Poseidon said wistfully, seemingly lost in his memories. Zeus and Hades glared at him but identical glares from their sisters stopped them from saying anything.

**I told her she was smothering me, and to lay off and all that, but secretly, I was really, really glad to see her.**

**From the other room, Gabe yelled, "Hey, Sally—how about some bean dip, huh?"**

Poseidon gritted his teeth together; face turning back to that unreadable mask. It unnerved almost everyone. Only a few are not affected, namely: Zeus, Hades, Athena and Hestia.

**I gritted my teeth.**

**My mom is the nicest lady in the world. She should've been married to a millionaire, not to some jerk like Gabe.**

**For her sake, I tried to sound upbeat about my last days at Yancy Academy. I told her I wasn't too down about the expulsion. I'd lasted almost the whole year this time. I'd made some new friends. I'd done pretty well in Latin. And honestly, the fights hadn't been as bad as the headmaster said. I liked Yancy Academy. I really did. I put such a good spin on the year, I almost convinced myself.**

**I started choking up, thinking about Grover and Mr. Brunner. Even Nancy Bobofit suddenly didn't seem so bad.**

**Until that trip to the museum ...**

**"What?" my mom asked. Her eyes tugged at my conscience, trying to pull out the secrets. "Did something scare you?"**

**"No, Mom."**

**I felt bad lying. I wanted to tell her about Mrs. Dodds and the three old ladies with the yarn, but I thought it would sound stupid.**

"She should have told her mother." Athena said softly. "Her mother would have known what to do." She looked pointedly at Poseidon. "Unless, of course, her father forgot to mention anything about the dangers of having demi-god children living with their mortal parents."

**She pursed her lips. She knew I was holding back, but she didn't push me.**

**"I have a surprise for you," she said. "We're going to the beach."**

**My eyes widened. "Montauk?"**

**"Three nights—same cabin."**

**"When?"**

**She smiled. "As soon as I get changed."**

**I couldn't believe it. My mom and I hadn't been to Montauk the last two summers, because Gabe said there wasn't enough money.**

Poseidon smiled dreamily. Hades and Zeus had to bite their tongue to refrain from commenting, lest they start another argument.

**Gabe appeared in the doorway and growled, "Bean dip, Sally? Didn't you hear me?"**

**I wanted to punch him, **

"Do it!" Ares shouted.

**but I met my mom's eyes and I understood she was offering me a deal: be nice to Gabe for a little while. Just until she was ready to leave for Montauk. Then we would get out of here.**

**"I was on my way, honey," she told Gabe. "We were just talking about the trip."**

**Gabe's eyes got small. "The trip? You mean you were serious about that?"**

"I knew it," Poseidon muttered, but loud enough for everyone to hear him. "He won't let them go."

Demeter snickered.

**"I knew it," I muttered. "He won't let us go."**

A few others snickered now.

"Seriously, uncle, its creepy how much she's like you." Apollo said.

"A mini-female clone of uncle." Hermes said.

Poseidon rolled his eyes at his nephews antics.

**"Of course he will," my mom said evenly. "Your step father is just worried about money. That's all. Besides," she added, "Gabriel won't have to settle for bean dip. I'll make him enough seven-layer dip for the whole weekend. Guacamole. Sour cream. The works."**

**Gabe softened a bit. "So this money for your trip ... it comes out of your clothes budget, right?"**

"What?" Aphrodite screamed. "How can he ask the woman to pay with her clothes budget?"

"It doesn't matter of what he made them pay for, he's despicable. End of story." Artemis snapped.

**"Yes, honey," my mother said.**

**"And you won't take my car anywhere but there and back."**

**"We'll be very careful."**

**Gabe scratched his double chin. "Maybe if you hurry with that seven-layer dip ... And maybe if the kid apologizes for interrupting my poker game."**

"_Interrupting_? More like giving you money to continue playing." Hermes busted out.

**Maybe if I kick you in your soft spot, I thought. And make you sing soprano for a week.**

Hades rubbed his bearded chin in thought, "That, could be a new torture in the Fields of Punishment."

"Specifically for him," Poseidon growled. "He should be the first one to test it out."

"Agreed." Zeus said.

**But my mom's eyes warned me not to make him mad.**

**Why did she put up with this guy? **

"_That's_ what I would like to know." Aphrodite grumbled

"Why did she care what he thought?" Poseidon groaned.

Demeter frowned. "This really is getting creepy."

"What is?" Hermes asked.

"Oh, let me guess." Dionysus interjected before Demeter could reply. "Uncle Poseidon said something his daughter's thinking right?"

"Yes."

**I wanted to scream. Why did she care what he thought?**

"See what I mean?" Demeter asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You two are way too similar." Athena said. "For my liking."

"We don't need to mold ourselves just to your liking." Poseidon said.

**"I'm sorry," I muttered. "I'm really sorry I interrupted your incredibly important poker game. Please go back to it right now."**

**Gabe's eyes narrowed. His tiny brain was probably trying to detect sarcasm in my statement.**

"Oh this is a shock," Athena said dramatically. "He had a brain?" A few laugh at her statement.

**"Yeah, whatever," he decided.**

**He went back to his game.**

**"Thank you, Percy," my mom said. "Once we get to Montauk, we'll talk more about... whatever you've forgotten to tell me, okay?"**

**For a moment, I thought I saw anxiety in her eyes—the same fear I'd seen in Grover during the bus ride—as if my mom too felt an odd chill in the air.**

**But then her smile returned, and I figured I must have been mistaken. She ruffled my hair and went to make Gabe his seven-layer dip.**

**An hour later we were ready to leave.**

**Gabe took a break from his poker game long enough to watch me lug my mom's bags to the car. **

"He let her do that herself?" Hestia asked, appalled.

"Not surprising." Zeus replied. "After all that he had done earlier."

**He kept griping and groaning about losing her cooking—and more important, his '78 Camaro—for the whole weekend.**

**"Not a scratch on this car, brain girl," he warned me as I loaded the last bag. "Not one little scratch."**

"_Just_ because he said that, you should scratch it." Hermes smiled.

"Like she'll be the one driving. She's just a kid." Poseidon rolled his eyes.

"I really don't know what to say anymore." Demeter said.

**Like I'd be the one driving.****I was twelve.**

"Is she channeling you or are you channeling her?" Ares asked. Even her was starting to note the similarities of their mind. They have the same thoughts.

Poseidon shrugged helplessly.

**But that didn't matter to Gabe. If a seagull so much as pooped on his paint job, he'd find a way to blame me.**

**Watching him lumber back toward the apartment building, I got so mad I did something I can't explain. As Gabe reached the doorway, I made the hand gesture I'd seen Grover make on the bus, a sort of warding-off-evil gesture, a clawed hand over my heart, then a shoving movement toward Gabe. The screen door slammed shut so hard it whacked him in the butt and sent him flying up the stair case as if he'd been shot from a cannon. **

The entire council to laughed loudly.

"Man, I wish I get to see that." Apollo said between laughter. Hermes, his partner in crime, agreed with him by nodding.

**Maybe it was just the wind, or some freak accident with the hinges, but I didn't stay long enough to find out.**

**I got in the Camaro and told my mom to step on it.**

**Our rental cabin was on the south shore, way out at the tip of Long Island. It was a little pastel box with faded curtains, half sunken into the dunes. There was always sand in the sheets and spiders **

At the mention of her, and her children's, greatest fear, Athena shuddered. Poseidon smirked at her, taunting her.

**in the cabinets,** **and most of the time the sea was too cold to swim in.**

"Not like it would stop her." Zeus said.

**I loved the place.**

"So it would seem." Hephaestus grumbled.

**We'd been going there since I was a baby. My mom had been going even longer. She never exactly said, but I knew why the beach was special to her. It was the place where she'd met my dad.** **As we got closer to Montauk, she seemed to grow younger, years of worry and work disappearing from her face. Her eyes turned the color of the sea.**

**We got there at sunset, opened all the cabin's windows, and went through our usual cleaning routine. We walked on the beach, fed blue corn chips to the seagulls, and munched on blue jelly beans, blue saltwater taffy, and all the other free samples my mom had brought from work.**

"What's with the blue food?" Hades frowned. "And besides, I don't think its her father's color."

"She's free to like what she wants." Demeter said. "Her father wouldn't affect her likes or dislikes."

**I guess I should explain the blue food.**

"It appears your question will be answered, Brother." Hestia smiled.

**See, Gabe had once told my mom there was no such thing. They had this fight, which seemed like a really small thing at the time. But ever since, my mom went out of her way to eat blue. She baked blue birthday cakes. She mixed blueberry smoothies. She bought blue-corn tortilla chips and brought home blue candy from the shop. This—along with keeping her maiden name, Jackson, rather than calling herself Mrs. Ugliano—was proof that she wasn't totally suckered by Gabe. She did have a rebellious streak, like me.**

"Or the fact that she inherited her father's attitude, too proud to admit anything." Athena contradicted what was written in the book.

**When it got dark, we made a fire. We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. Mom told me stories about when she was a kid, back before her parents died in the plane crash. She told me about the books she wanted to write someday, when she had enough money to quit the candy shop.**

**Eventually, I got up the nerve to ask about what was always on my mind whenever we came to Montauk—my father. Mom's eyes went all misty. I figured she would tell me the same things she always did, but I never got tired of hearing them.**

"She wished she could meet her father." Hera said.

"How do you know that?" Artemis asked.

"I can just feel it." Hera replied. "Hestia can too."

Hestia nodded. "True."

**"He was kind, Percy," she said. "Tall, handsome, and powerful. But gentle, too. You have his black hair, you know, and his green eyes."**

"She's still in love with you." Athena grumbled. "Unbelievable."

Poseidon snorted. "You're just jealous that the men you have children with forget you immediately after what had happened." He got a glare for his efforts.

**Mom fished a blue jelly bean out of her candy bag. "I wish he could see you, Percy. He would be so proud."**

"Too true," Poseidon muttered.

**I wondered how she could say that. What was so great about me? A dyslexic, hyperactive girl cross-dressing as a boy with a D+ report card, kicked out of school for the sixth time in six years.**

"I could give you a lot of answers as to why I am proud," Poseidon sighed. "But sadly, you would not be able to hear me."

**"How old was I?" I asked. "I mean ... when he left?"**

**She watched the flames. "He was only with me for one summer, Percy. Right here at this beach. This cabin."**

**"But... he knew me as a baby."**

**"No, honey. He knew I was expecting a baby, but he never saw you. He had to leave before you were born."**

**I tried to square that with the fact that I seemed to remember ... something about my father. A warm glow. A smile.**

"I visited you once, daughter. Without your mother's knowledge." He whispered.

**I had always assumed he knew me as a baby. My mom had never said it outright, but still, I'd felt it must be true. Now, to be told that he'd never even seen me...**

**I felt angry at my father. **

Those that had children flinched, knowing that many of their children felt the same way.

**Maybe it was stupid, but I resented him for going on that ocean voyage, for not having the guts to marry my mom. He'd left us, and now we were stuck with Smelly Gabe.**

**"Are you going to send me away again?" I asked her. "To another boarding school?"**

"What good would it do anyway?" Dionysus sighed.

**She pulled a marshmallow from the fire.**

**"I don't know, honey." Her voice was heavy. "I think ... I think we'll have to do something."**

**"Because you don't want me around?"**

"_Percy_!" Poseidon looked disbelievingly at the book, his daughter did _not_ just said that. If she _did_, she had better not meant it.

**I regretted the words as soon as they were out.**

"Too right you should, upsetting your mother like that!" Hera huffed.

**My mom's eyes welled with tears. She took my hand, squeezed it tight. "Oh, Percy, no. I—I **_**have **_**to, honey. For your own good. I have to send you away."**

**Her words reminded me of what Mr. Brunner had said—that it was best for me to leave Yancy.**

**"Because I'm not normal," I said.**

**"You say that as if it's a bad thing, Percy. But you don't realize how important you are. I thought Yancy Academy would be far enough away. I thought you'd finally be safe."**

**"Safe from what?"**

**She met my eyes, and a flood of memories came back to me—all the weird, scary things that had ever happened to me, some of which I'd tried to forget.**

**During third grade, a man in a black trench coat had stalked me on the playground. When the teachers threatened to call the police, he went away growling, but no one believed me when I told them that under his broad-brimmed hat, the man only had one eye, right in the middle of his head.**

"A cyclops." Artemis announced flatly. "Did you send him there to watch over your half-blood daughter?"

"Maybe. This hasn't happen yet, it will, in two to three years." Poseidon replied.

**Before that—a really early memory. I was in preschool, and a teacher accidentally put me down for a nap in a cot that a snake had slithered into. My mom screamed when she came to pick me up and found me playing with a limp, scaly rope I'd somehow managed to strangle to death with my meaty toddler hands.**

"Just like Hercules." Zeus murmured.

"She'll be a better hero than him," Poseidon said smugly. "I assure you of that."

"How can you be so sure?" Hestia asked.

"I just have the feeling."

Athena snorted. "How convincing."

**In every single school, something creepy had happened, something unsafe, and I was forced to move.**

**I knew I should tell my mom about the old ladies at the fruit stand, and Mrs. Dodds at the art museum, about my weird hallucination that I had sliced my math teacher into dust with a sword. But I couldn't make myself tell her. I had a strange feeling the news would end our trip to Montauk, and I didn't want that.**

"She really shouldn't do that." Demeter said.

"She didn't know, can you blame her?" Hermes defended his cousin that he had yet to meet.

**"I've tried to keep you as close to me as I could," my mom said. "They told me that was a mistake. But there's only one other option, Percy—the place your father wanted to send you. And I just... I just can't stand to do it."**

**"My father wanted me to go to a special school?"**

**"Not a school," she said softly. "A summer camp."**

**My head was spinning. Why would my dad—who hadn't even stayed around long enough to see me born— talk to my mom about a summer camp? And if it was so important, why hadn't she ever mentioned it before?**

**"I'm sorry, Percy," she said, seeing the look in my eyes. "But I can't talk about it. I—I couldn't send you to that place. It might mean saying good-bye to you for good."**

"That is the attitude that gets _most_ of the little brats killed." Dionysus said nonchalantly. "How wonderful."

Everyone looked at him, appalled. Realizing that he had said something wrong, he quickly corrected himself. "Oh, How dreadful!" Who would believe that?

**"For good? But if it's only a summer camp ..."**

**She turned toward the fire, and I knew from her expression that if I asked her any more questions she would start to cry.**

**That night I had a vivid dream.**

"Well _that's_ never good." Apollo stated.

"All demigod dreams aren't." Artemis said.

**It was storming on the beach, and two beautiful animals, a white horse and a golden eagle, were trying to kill each other at the edge of the surf.**

"That serious?" Hera asked, disbelief laced in her voice.

"This hadn't happen yet." Hephaestus pointed out.

**The eagle swooped down and slashed the horse's muzzle with its huge talons. The horse reared up and kicked at the eagles wings. As they fought, the ground rumbled, and a monstrous voice chuckled somewhere beneath the earth, goading the animals to fight harder.**

Everyone looked at Hades. "You're accusing me?" He cried, hurt. Then he calmed down, sulking. "Should have known."

"We didn't mean that, brother." Hestia said gently.

**I ran toward them, knowing I had to stop them from killing each other, but I was running in slow motion. **

The council's eyes widened. It couldn't be.

**I knew I would be too late. I saw the eagle dive down, its beak aimed at the horse's wide eyes, and I screamed, **_**No!**_

**I woke with a start.**

**Outside, it really was storming, the kind of storm that cracks trees and blows down houses. There was no horse or eagle on the beach, just lightning making false daylight, and twenty-foot waves pounding the dunes like artillery.**

"Nice, a war." Ares grinned. Everyone threw him dirty looks.

"A war is not good, you know." Artemis pointed out.

**With the next thunderclap, my mom woke. She sat up, eyes wide, and said, "Hurricane."**

**I knew that was crazy. Long Island never sees hurricanes this early in the summer. But the ocean seemed to have forgotten. Over the roar of the wind, I heard a distant bellow, an angry, tortured sound that made my hair stand on end.**

**Then a much closer noise, like mallets in the sand. A desperate voice—someone yelling, pounding on our cabin door.**

**My mother sprang out of bed in her nightgown and threw open the lock.**

**Grover stood framed in the doorway against a backdrop of pouring rain. But he wasn't... he wasn't exactly Grover.**

**"Searching all night," he gasped. "What were you thinking?"**

"Finally the satyr shows up to bring the girl to safety." Dionysus clapped, tone sarcastic. "Nice."

**My mother looked at me in terror—not scared of Grover, but of why he'd come.**

**"Percy," she said, shouting to be heard over the rain. "What happened at school? What didn't you tell me?"**

**I was frozen, looking at Grover. I couldn't understand what I was seeing.**

_**"O Zeu kai alloi theoi!" **_**he yelled. "It's right behind me! Didn't you **_**tell **_**her?"**

**I was too shocked to register that he'd just cursed in Ancient Greek, and I'd understood him perfectly. I was too shocked to wonder how Grover had gotten here by himself in the middle of the night. Because Grover didn't have his pants on—**

"How inappropriate." Hermes snickered. "Uncle P's going to kill him now."

"Will you shut up?" Poseidon demanded.

**and where his legs should be ... where his legs should be...**

**My mom looked at me sternly and talked in a tone she'd never used before: **_**"Percy. **_**Tell me **_**now**_**!"**

**I stammered something about the old ladies at the fruit stand, and Mrs. Dodds, and my mom stared at me, her face deathly pale in the flashes of lightning.**

**She grabbed her purse, tossed me my rain jacket, and said, "Get to the car. Both of you. **_**Go**_**!"**

"Finally! _Something_ interesting is about to happen!" Ares cheered as he pumped his fists in the air.

"Can't wait to hear it." Dionysus drawled.

**Grover ran for the Camaro—but he wasn't running, exactly. He was trotting, shaking his shaggy hindquarters, and suddenly his story about a muscular disorder in his legs made sense to me. I understood how he could run so fast and still limp when he walked.**

**Because where his feet should be, there were no feet. There were cloven hooves.**

"That's the end." Demeter announced.

"Hand the book over." Zeus grumbled. "I'll read."

He cleared his throat loudly and dramatically. He began to read with melodramatic passion.

* * *

_A/N: Remember to vote and review! (^^)_


	4. Chapter 4

**Genre:** Romance/Family/Tragedy

**Rated: **T

**Pairing(s):** Fem!Percy/Luke

**Summary:** AU. Percy and Luke make a good couple in my opinion. So I tweaked it a little because M/M isn't something I'm very good at writing. Percy's personality will be the same. What would happen if the gods read the books before they knew of Percy?

**Setting**: This starts on the day after Thalia is turned into her tree. So the ages are as below:

Percy: 7

Luke: 14

Annabeth: 7

**Disclaimer:** I do not own **Percy Jackson and the Olympians**

**Warning(s):** AU(Seeing as Percy's female) Obviously there will be spoilers to the books. Also I'm sorry if there are any grammar or spelling mistakes, please forgive me!

P.S. Also, this chapter has some differences.

* * *

**Chapter 4: MY MOTHER TEACHES ME BULL-FIGHTING**

* * *

"Sally can't fight." Poseidon frowned. "So how did she teach Percy to fight?"

"We'll know if Father would continue to read." Athena retorted.

For once, Poseidon did not waste any time saying anything back to her. It was obvious he was very worried.

**We tore through the night along dark country roads. Wind slammed against the Camaro. Rain lashed the wind shield. I didn't know how my mom could see anything, but she kept her foot on the gas.**

**Every time there was a flash of lightning, **

Poseidon glared at his brother. Zeus ignored him and continued to read though he could feel Poseidon's eyes burning holes on him.

**I looked at Grover sitting next to me in the backseat and I wondered if I'd gone insane, or if he was wearing some kind of shag-carpet pants. But, no, the smell was one I remembered from kindergarten field trips to the petting zoo— lanolin, like from wool. The smell of a wet barnyard animal.**

Hera shot a not-so-discreet glance at Artemis who easily noticed. Coolly, she asked. "Is there something you want to say, Hera?"

"Not really. I was just curious as to how you can stand those smell if you kept so many animal remains as trophy." Hera replied nonchalantly. "Why don't you continue reading, husband?" She requested sweetly.

**All I could think to say was, "So, you and my mom... know each other?"**

**Grover's eyes flitted to the rear-view mirror, though there were no cars behind us. "Not exactly," he said. "I mean, we've never met in person. But she knew I was watching you."**

**"Watching me?"**

**"Keeping tabs on you. Making sure you were okay. But I wasn't faking being your friend," he added hastily. "I **_**am **_**your friend."**

"Being Poseidon's daughter, I wonder whether or not she has the brain capacity to know what he meant." Athena muttered. Poseidon ignored her but a few others snickered; they got themselves each a death glare for what they did.

**"Um ... what **_**are **_**you, exactly?"**

**"That doesn't matter right now."**

"I bet she's annoyed." Hermes said. "I would be too if someone say that to me."

**"It doesn't matter? From the waist down, my best friend is a donkey—"**

"Great way to get him to start talking." Apollo snickered.

**Grover let out a sharp, throaty "**_**Blaa-ha-ha**_**!"**

**I'd heard him make that sound before, but I'd always assumed it was a nervous laugh. Now I realized it was more of an irritated bleat.**

**"Goat!" he cried.**

**"What?"**

**"I'm a **_**goat **_**from the waist down."**

"What's the difference between goat and donkey anyway?" Ares rolled his eyes. "They're just animals. Feh." Artemis shot him a threatening glare.

"Animals are hunted for food. Animals are important. Without them, mortals would not have that much food suply." She ranted.

"Oh, whatever." Dionysus said. "I don't care. Whatever will be will be."

Artemis shot him a furious glare but she didn't say anything because of the warning glance Zeus gave her.

**"You just said it didn't matter."**

**"**_**Blaa-ha-ha**_**!** **There are satyrs who would trample you underhoof for such an insult!"**

"I'd like to see that." Hermes commented.

**"Whoa. Wait. Satyrs. You mean like ... Mr. Brunner's myths?"**

**"Were those old ladies at the fruit stand a **_**myth, **_**Percy? Was Mrs. Dodds a myth?"**

**"So you **_**admit **_**there was a Mrs. Dodds!"**

**"Of course."**

**"Then why—"**

**"The less you knew, the fewer monsters you'd attract," Grover said, like that should be perfectly obvious. "We put Mist over the humans' eyes. We hoped you'd think the Kindly One was a hallucination. But it was no good. You started to realize who you are."**

**"Who I—wait a minute, what do you mean?"**

"It means that you're a demigoddess, child." Artemis said to the book.

**The weird bellowing noise rose up again somewhere behind us, closer than before. Whatever was chasing us was still on our trail.**

**"Percy," my mom said, "there's too much to explain and not enough time. We have to get you to safety."**

**"Safety from what? Who's after me?"**

"Your Uncles." Almost the entire council answered looking at Zeus and Hades, who both decided to ignore the others.

**"Oh, nobody much," Grover said, obviously still miffed about the donkey comment. "Just the Lord of the Dead and a few of his blood-thirstiest minions."**

Hades smirked. "I like how he describe me."

"I doubt my daughter will like that." Poseidon said, sighing.

**"Sorry, Mrs. Jackson. Could you drive faster, please?"**

**I tried to wrap my mind around what was happening, but I couldn't do it. I knew this wasn't a dream. I had no imagination. I could never dream up something this weird.**

**My mom made a hard left. We swerved onto a narrower road, racing past darkened farmhouses and wooded hills and PICK YOUR OWN STRAWBERRIES signs on white picket fences.**

"They're almost to safety," Hestia said. "So why do you still look so concern?"

"Almost being the keyword, Hestia." Poseidon sighed; concern shining in his sea-green eyes. Pity made its way to Hades heart, he had been in Poseidon's place before, just in a different situation. He can felt the empathy for his little brother.

**"Where are we going?" I asked.**

**"The summer camp I told you about." My mother's voice was tight; she was trying for my sake not to be scared. "The place your father wanted to send you."**

**"The place you didn't want me to go."**

**"Please, dear," my mother begged. "This is hard enough. Try to understand. You're in danger."**

**"Because some old ladies cut yarn."**

**"Those weren't old ladies," Grover said. "Those were the Fates. Do you know what it means—the fact they appeared in front of you? They only do that when you're about to ... when someone's about to die."**

**"Whoa. You said 'you.'"**

**"No I didn't. I said 'someone.'"**

**"You meant 'you.' As in **_**me.**_**"**

**"I meant **_**you, **_**like 'someone.' Not you, **_**you.**_**"**

"**Children!" my mom said.**

**She pulled the wheel hard to the right, and I got a glimpse of a figure she'd swerved to avoid—a dark fluttering shape now lost behind us in the storm.**

**"What was that?" I asked.**

**"We're almost there," my mother said, ignoring my question.**

**"Another mile. Please. Please. Please."**

**I didn't know where **_**there **_**was, but I found myself leaning forward in the car, anticipating, wanting us to arrive.**

**Outside, nothing but rain and darkness—the kind of empty countryside you get way out on the tip of Long Island. I thought about Mrs. Dodds and the moment when she'd changed into the thing with pointed teeth and leathery wings. My limbs went numb from delayed shock. She really **_**hadn't **_**been human. She'd meant to kill me.**

**Then I thought about Mr. Brunner ... and the sword he had thrown me. Before I could ask Grover about that, the hair rose on the back of my neck. There was a blinding flash, a jaw-rattling **_**boom!, **_**and our car exploded.**

Jaws dropped. Poseidon looked ready to rip Zeus' head off. But, surprisingly, Zeus continued reading in a very disappointed tone.

"Calm down, there's still more." Hera said.

**I remember feeling weightless, like I was being crushed, fried, and hosed down all at the same time.**

**I peeled my forehead off the back of the driver's seat and said, "Ow."**

**"Percy!" my mom shouted.**

**"I'm okay..."**

**I tried to shake off the daze. I wasn't dead. The car hadn't really exploded. We'd swerved into a ditch. Our driver's-side doors were wedged in the mud. The roof had cracked open like an eggshell and rain was pouring in.**

**Lightning. The element I hate the most.**

Poseidon felt slightly happy at what his daughter thought of lightning.

**That was the only explanation. We'd been blasted right off the road. Next to me in the backseat was a big motionless lump. "Grover!"**

Zeus chuckled darkly. Everyone turned to him, Hestia returned to her place at the hearth. "What? The satyr deserved it." He smiled brightly.

**He was slumped over, blood trickling from the side of his mouth. I shook his furry hip, thinking, No! Even if you are half barnyard animal, you're my best friend and I don't want you to die!**

"I hope she doesn't have a crush on the satyr." Aphrodite said. "I have so many plans for her. Falling for that satyr is a big no-no."

"Agreed." Poseidon said. "I wouldn't like it if she likes someone _that_ spineless."

"As long as he doesn't find a match in love is good enough for me." Zeus said, smiling.

**Then he groaned "Food," and I knew there was hope.**

**"Percy," my mother said, "we have to ..." Her voice faltered.**

**I looked back. In a flash of lightning, through the mud-spattered rear windshield, I saw a figure lumbering toward us on the shoulder of the road. The sight of it made my skin crawl. It was a dark silhouette of a huge guy, like a football player. He seemed to be holding a blanket over his head. His top half was bulky and fuzzy. His upraised hands made it look like he had horns.**

"The Minotaur?" Poseidon spat, eyes flashing.

"Yes, fortunately." Hades said.

"Yes, i agree with Uncle H." Dionysus muttered. Everyone looked at him. "Oh, this is so unfortunate. Uncle H, how can you do this?" His tone leaked sarcasm.

**I swallowed hard. "Who is—"**

**"Percy," my mother said, deadly serious. "Get out of the car."**

**My mother threw herself against the driver's-side door. It was jammed shut in the mud. I tried mine. Stuck too. I looked up desperately at the hole in the roof. It might've been an exit, but the edges were sizzling and smoking.**

**"Climb out the passenger's side!" my mother told me. "Percy—you have to run. Do you see that big tree?"**

_**"What?"**_

**Another flash of lightning, and through the smoking hole in the roof I saw the tree she meant: a huge, White House Christmas tree-sized pine at the crest of the nearest hill.**

**"That's the property line," my mom said. "Get over that hill and you'll see a big farmhouse down in the valley. Run and don't look back. Yell for help. Don't stop until you reach the door."**

**"Mom, you're coming too."**

"Damn it." Poseidon cursed. He had totally forgotten that as good as Sally's vision was, she was still a mortal. She wouldn't be able to cross the property line unless a camper gives her permission to enter. A few were throwing looks of sympathy at him which he ignored, he would not acknowledge that hope was lost.

**Her face was pale, her eyes as sad as when she looked at the ocean.**

**"No!" I shouted. "You **_**are **_**coming with me. Help me carry Grover."**

**"Food!" Grover moaned, a little louder.**

**The man with the blanket on his head kept coming toward us, making his grunting, snorting noises. As he got closer, I realized he **_**couldn't **_**be holding a blanket over his head, because his hands—huge meaty hands—were swinging at his sides. There was no blanket. Meaning the bulky, fuzzy mass that was too big to be his head ... was his head. And the points that looked like horns…**

"She still doesn't know what that is?" Athena exclaimed. No one answered her, waiting in anticipation for Zeus to continued reading.

**"He doesn't want **_**us**_**," my mother told me. "He wants **_**you. **_**Besides, I can't cross the property line."**

**"But..."**

**"We don't have time, Percy. Go. Please."**

**I got mad, then—mad at my mother,**

"What does her mother has to do with it?" Hera rolled her eyes.

"No idea." Hades shrugged.

**at Grover the goat,**

"Half-goat." Dionysus muttered.

**at the thing with horns that was lumbering toward us slowly and deliberately like, like a bull.**

"In a sense, he_ is_ a bull, young lady." Hermes said.

**I climbed across Grover and pushed the door open into the rain. "We're going together. Come on, Mom."**

**"I told you—"**

**"Mom! I am not leaving you. Help me with Grover."**

"Such a sweet girl, albeit she doesn't have brains." Athena praised a child of Poseidon which was rare. Quite a lot of the council threw her bewildered looks. But none were as shocked as Poseidon who's mouth hung open.

**I didn't wait for her answer. I scrambled outside, dragging Grover from the car. He was surprisingly light, but I couldn't have carried him very far if my mom hadn't come to my aid.**

**Together, we draped Grover's arms over our shoulders and started stumbling uphill through wet waist-high grass.**

**Glancing back, I got my first clear look at the monster. He was seven feet tall, easy, his arms and legs like something from the cover of **_**Muscle Man **_**magazine—bulging biceps and triceps and a bunch of other 'ceps, all stuffed like baseballs under vein-webbed skin. He wore no clothes except under wear—** **I mean, bright white Fruit of the Looms—which would've looked funny, except that the top half of his body was so scary. Coarse brown hair started at about his belly button and got thicker as it reached his shoulders.**

**His neck was a mass of muscle and fur leading up to his enormous head, which had a snout as long as my arm, snotty nostrils with a gleaming brass ring, cruel black eyes, and horns—enormous black-and-white horns with points you just couldn't get from an electric sharpener.**

**I recognized the monster, all right. He had been in one of the first stories Mr. Brunner told us. But he couldn't be real.**

"I wish it was that way." Poseidon said.

**I blinked the rain out of my eyes. "That's—"**

**"Pasiphae's son," my mother said.**

"Smart woman, names have power." Athena nodded approvingly.

**"I wish I'd known how badly they want to kill you."**

**"But he's the Min—"**

**"Don't say his name," she warned. "Names have power."**

**The pine tree was still way too far—a hundred yards uphill at least.**

**I glanced behind me again.**

**The bull-man hunched over our car, looking in the windows—or not looking, exactly. More like snuffling, nuzzling. I wasn't sure why he bothered, since we were only about fifty feet away.**

**"Food?" Grover moaned.**

**"Shh," I told him. "Mom, what's he doing? Doesn't he see us?"**

**"His sight and hearing are terrible," she said. "He goes by smell. But he'll figure out where we are soon enough."**

**As if on cue, the bull-man bellowed in rage. He picked up Gabe's Camaro by the torn roof, the chassis creaking and groaning. He raised the car over his head and threw it down the road. It slammed into the wet asphalt and skidded in a shower of sparks for about half a mile before coming to a stop. The gas tank exploded.**

_**Not a scratch, **_**I remembered Gabe saying.**

Everyone laughed – except Poseidon who was too worried to – at the girl's thoughts.

**Oops.**

**"Percy," my mom said. "When he sees us, he'll charge. Wait until the last second, then jump out of the way— directly sideways. He can't change directions very well once he's charging. Do you understand?"**

"She's smart; it is a very good plan." Athena remarked.

"A plan worthy of Athena." Poseidon smiled smugly.

**"How do you know all this?"**

**"I've been worried about an attack for a long time. I should have expected this. I was selfish, keeping you near me."**

**"Keeping me near you? But—"**

**Another bellow of rage, and the bull-man started tromping uphill.**

**He'd smelled us.**

**The pine tree was only a few more yards, but the hill was getting steeper and slicker, and Grover wasn't getting any lighter.**

**The bull-man closed in. Another few seconds and he'd be on top of us.**

**My mother must've been exhausted, but she shouldered Grover. "Go, Percy! Separate! Remember what I said."**

**I didn't want to split up, but I had the feeling she was right—it was our only chance. I sprinted to the left, turned, and saw the creature bearing down on me. His black eyes glowed with hate. He reeked like rotten meat.**

**He lowered his head and charged, those razor-sharp horns aimed straight at my chest.**

**The fear in my stomach made me want to bolt, but that wouldn't work. I could never outrun this thing.**

**So I held my ground, and at the last moment, I jumped to the side.**

**The bull-man stormed past like a freight train, then bellowed with frustration and turned, but not toward me this time, toward my mother, who was setting Grover down in the grass.**

Zeus growled under his breath. "Just give the satyr as bait for the Minotaur and get away." He hated the satyr, even if the plan he has in mind would save his niece, the satyr is a must die.

**We'd reached the crest of the hill. Down the other side I could see a valley, just as my mother had said, and the lights of a farmhouse glowing yellow through the rain. But that was half a mile away. We'd never make it.**

**The bull-man grunted, pawing the ground. He kept eyeing my mother, who was now retreating slowly downhill, back toward the road, trying to lead the monster away from Grover.**

**"Run, Percy!" she told me. "I can't go any farther. Run!"**

**But I just stood there, frozen in fear, as the monster charged her. She tried to sidestep, as she'd told me to do, but the monster had learned his lesson. His hand shot out and grabbed her by the neck as she tried to get away. He lifted her as she struggled, kicking and pummeling the air.**

"No, no, no, no . . ." Poseidon murmured softly to himself.

**"Mom!"**

**She caught my eyes, managed to choke out one last word: "Go!"**

**Then, with an angry roar, the monster closed his fists around my mother's neck, and she dissolved before my eyes, melting into light, a shimmering golden form, as if she were a holographic projection. A blinding flash, and she was simply ... gone.**

"No!" Poseidon glared at Hades but he forced himself to calm down. He couldn't afford to do anything rash.

**"No!"**

**Anger replaced my fear. New-found strength burned in my limbs—the same rush of energy I'd gotten when Mrs. Dodds grew talons.**

**The bull-man bore down on Grover, who lay helpless in the grass. The monster hunched over, snuffling my best friend, as if he were about to lift Grover up and make him dissolve too.**

**I couldn't allow that.**

**I stripped off my red rain jacket.**

**"Hey!" I screamed, waving the jacket, running to one side of the monster. "Hey, stupid! Ground beef!"**

"Haha, you two are still so similar even in this kind of situation." Apollo said trying to lighten the mood.

**"Raaaarrrrr!" The monster turned toward me, shaking his meaty fists.**

**I had an idea—a stupid idea, but better than no idea at all.**

"As long as it will save your lives then its fine." Artemis said.

**I put my back to the big pine tree and waved my red jacket in front of the bull-man, thinking I'd jump out of the way at the last moment.**

**But it didn't happen like that.**

Poseidon cursed in Ancient Greek.

**The bull-man charged too fast, his arms out to grab me whichever way I tried to dodge.**

**Time slowed down.**

**My legs tensed. I couldn't jump sideways, so I leaped straight up, kicking off from the creature's head, using it as a springboard, turning in midair, and landing on his neck.**

"Impressive." Ares grumbled.

**How did I do that?**

**I didn't have time to figure it out. A millisecond later, the monster's head slammed into the tree and the impact nearly knocked my teeth out.**

**The bull-man staggered around, trying to shake me. I locked my arms around his horns to keep from being thrown. Thunder and lightning were still going strong. The rain was in my eyes. The smell of rotten meat burned my nostrils.**

**The monster shook himself around and bucked like a rodeo bull. He should have just backed up into the tree and smashed me flat, but I was starting to realize that this thing had only one gear: forward.**

**Meanwhile, Grover started groaning in the grass. I wanted to yell at him to shut up, but the way I was getting tossed around, if I opened my mouth I'd bite my own tongue off.**

**"Food!" Grover moaned.**

**The bull-man wheeled toward him, pawed the ground again, and got ready to charge. I thought about how he had squeezed the life out of my mother, made her disappear in a flash of light,** **and rage filled me like high-octane fuel. I got both hands around one horn and I pulled backward with all my might. The monster tensed, gave a surprised grunt, then—**_**snap!**_

"_Nice_!" Hermes exclaimed.

**The bull-man screamed and flung me through the air. I landed flat on my back in the grass. My head smacked against a rock. When I sat up, my vision was blurry, but I had a horn in my hands, a ragged bone weapon the size of a knife.**

**The monster charged.**

**Without thinking, I rolled to one side and came up kneeling. As the monster barreled past, I drove the broken horn straight into his side, right up under his furry rib cage.**

**The bull-man roared in agony. He flailed, clawing at his chest, then began to disintegrate—not like my mother, in a flash of golden light, but like crumbling sand, blown away in chunks by the wind, the same way Mrs. Dodds had burst apart.**

The council sat in shocked silence. "Unbelievable." Hera murmured. "She managed to defeat a Fury and the Minotaur even without training."

"Think about what she can do with proper training." Ares licked his lips hungrily at the thought of a powerful female warrior.

**The monster was gone.**

**The rain had stopped. The storm still rumbled, but only in the distance. I smelled like livestock and my knees were shaking. My head felt like it was splitting open. I was weak and scared and trembling with grief. I'd just seen my mother vanish. I wanted to lie down and cry, but there was Grover, needing my help, so I managed to haul him up and stagger down into the valley, toward the lights of the farm house. I was crying, calling for my mother, but I held on to Grover—I wasn't going to let him go.**

Many of the Olympians eyes softened in sympathy. Even Zeus' and Hades'. Btu it was the right thing to do, Hades contradicted himself.

**The last thing I remember is collapsing on a wooden porch, looking up at a ceiling fan circling above me, moths flying around a yellow light, and the stern faces of a familiar-looking bearded man and a pretty girl, her blond hair curled like a princess's.**

"Oh, when will the hero come?" Aphrodite asked. "I have to hear the candidates racing for her heart. I would love it though if it was one of my sons." She said dreamily.

**They both looked down at me, and the girl said, "He's the one. He must be."**

**"Silence, Annabeth,"**

Athena frowned. "My daughter?" She had a gut feeling that Annabeth would play quite a huge role in the daughter of Poseidon's life.

**the man said. "He's still conscious, Luke, carry the boy. Annabeth and I would carry the satyr."**

Aphrodite squealed loudly. "Luke it is!"

Poseidon looked at Hermes. "If Aphrodite says their relationship would work out, your son had better treat my daughter properly. Or else . . ." He let the threat hang in the air.

Hermes gulped. "Luke is a good boy; I'm sure he'll treat her properly."

**The last thing I recalled before I passed out was being shifted and was pulled into a secure hold. Whoever was carrying me gave of a feel of warmth and I like it. I looked up and saw baby blue eyes looking down at me with concern.**

**Back then, I never knew how closely tied his fate was to mine,**

"Oooo." Aphrodite squealed, nearly busting the Olympians eardrums. "I can't wait to see what she meant!"

"Oh, I can't wait either." Poseidon murmured darkly.

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_A/N: You guys can go to my profile and see how Percy will look like in the future, once her male disguise is off. Remember to vote on my profile as well. REVIEW!_


	5. Chapter 5

**Genre:** Romance/Family

**Rated: **T

**Pairing(s):** Fem!Percy/Luke

**Summary:** AU. Percy and Luke make a good couple in my opinion. So I tweaked it a little because M/M isn't something I'm very good at writing. Percy's personality will be the same. What would happen if the gods read the books before they knew of Percy?

**Setting**: This starts on the day after Thalia is turned into her tree. So the ages are as below:

Percy: 7

Luke: 14

Annabeth: 7

**Disclaimer:** I do not own **Percy Jackson and the Olympians**

**Warning(s):** AU(Seeing as Percy's female) Obviously there will be spoilers to the books. Also I'm sorry if there are any grammar or spelling mistakes, please forgive me!

* * *

**Chapter 5: I PLAY PINOCHLE WITH A HORSE**

* * *

"Hey," Ares begin, "I've been wondering . . ."

"About what?" Hermes asked.

"Isn't Poseidon's child a girl?" Ares demanded. "So why are they calling her a 'he' not 'she'?"

Athena rolled her eyes. "She's still cross-dressing as a male, of course they'll see her as a male. I can't believe you didn't know."

"And isn't your son older than my daughter by seven years?" Poseidon grumbled. "Its pedophilia."

Demeter snorted. "Oh, please." She said. "My daughter Persephone is younger than her husband by centuries. Seven years is like seven months in comparison."

"But by mortal standards . . ." Poseidon started.

"–Is a problem. But they both have Greek blood in their veins. What does it matter?" Aphrodite sighed. "Love transencends _everything_."

Most of the Olympians rolled their eyes at this statement.

Hades cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. It was his turn to read now.

**I had weird dreams full of barnyard animals. Most of them wanted to kill me. The rest wanted food.**

**I must've woken up several times, but what I heard and saw made no sense, so I just passed out again. I remember lying in a soft bed, being spoon-fed something that tasted like buttered popcorn, only it was pudding. The boy with blonde hair and blue eyes hovered over me, smirking as he scraped drips off my chin with the spoon. If I had the energy, I would've scowled at him.**

Aprhodite cooed. "Finally, a development!"

"Whatever." Hades muttered, rolling his eyes.

**Then there's another time, it was a girl with curly blonde hair that was feeeding me something elese to eat.**

**When she saw my eyes open, she asked, "What will happen at the summer solstice?"**

**I managed to croak, "What?"**

**She looked around, as if afraid someone would over hear. "What's going on? What was stolen? We've only got a few weeks!"**

"Sounds serious." Apollo mused.

"We wouldn't know until we finished reading." Artemis said.

**"I'm sorry," I mumbled, "I don't..."**

**Somebody knocked on the door, and the girl quickly filled my mouth with pudding.**

"Is she chokes, your daughter's going to pay big time." Poseidon muttered to Athena who glared threateningly at him.

**The next time I woke up, the girl was gone.**

**A husky blond dude, like a surfer, stood in the corner of the bedroom keeping watch over me. He had blue eyes- at least a dozen of them- on his cheeks, his forehead, the backs of his hands.**

"Imagine her surprise when she finds that he has more." Athena smirked.

**When I finally came around for good, there was nothing weird about my surroundings, except that they were nicer than I was used to. I was sitting in a deck chair on a huge porch, gazing across a meadow at green hills in the distance. The breeze smelled like strawberries. There was a blanket over my legs, a pillow behind my neck. All that was great, but my mouth felt like a scorpion had been using it for a nest. My tongue was dry and nasty and every one of my teeth** **hurt.**

Artemis winced as she tried to imagine what that young maiden had to go through.

**On the table next to me was a tall drink. It looked like iced apple juice, with a green straw and a paper parasol stuck through a maraschino cherry.**

**My hand was so weak I almost dropped the glass once I got my fingers around it.**

**"Careful," a familiar voice said.**

**Grover was leaning against the porch railing, looking like he hadn't slept in a week.**

"He probably hasn't." Hephaestus said.

"Good, let him suffer." Zeus smriekd sadistically.

**Under one arm, he cradled a shoe box. He was wearing blue jeans, Converse hi-tops and a bright orange T-shirt that said CAMP HALF-BLOOD. Just plain old Grover, Not the goat boy.**

**So maybe I'd had a nightmare. Maybe my mom was okay. We were still on vacation, and we'd stopped here at this big house for some reason. And...**

"Unfortunately daughter, it wasn't a nightmare." Poseidon said softly even though he knew better that Percy couldn't possibly hear him.

**"You saved my life," Grover said. "I... well, the least I could do ... I went back to the hill. I thought you might want this."**

**Reverently, he placed the shoe box in my lap.**

**Inside was a black-and-white bull's horn, the base jagged from being broken off, the tip splattered with dried blood. It hadn't been a nightmare.**

**"The Minotaur," I said.**

Athena wanted to make a remark but she decicded to cut both the child and Poseidon some slack. They both had just lost someone dear to them after all.

**"Urm, Percy, it isn't a good idea-"**

**"That's what they call him in the Greek myths, isn't it?" I demanded. "The Minotaur. Half man, half bull."**

**Grover shifted uncomfortably. "You've been out for two days. How much do you remember?"**

**"My mom. Is she really ..."**

**He looked down.**

"You have failed again satyr." Zeus grumbled. "As expected. I hope you got a suitable punishment."

**I stared across the meadow. There were groves of trees, a winding stream, acres of strawberries spread out under the blue sky. The valley was surrounded by rolling hills, and the tallest one, directly in front of us, was the one with the huge pine tree on top. Even that looked beautiful in the sunlight.**

**My mother was gone. The whole world should be black and cold. Nothing should look beautiful.**

"Her description is making me depressed." Hermes said. "Dramatic much?"

"It runs in the family." Hades replied, jerking his head at Zeus.

**"I'm sorry," Grover sniffled. "I'm a failure. I'm- I'm the worst satyr in the world."**

**He moaned, stomping his foot so hard it came off. I mean, the Converse hi-top came off. The inside was filled with Styrofoam, except for a hoof-shaped hole.**

**"Oh, Styx!" he mumbled.**

**Thunder rolled across the clear sky.**

**As he struggled to get his hoof back in the fake foot, I thought, Well, that settles it.**

**Grover was a satyr. I was ready to bet that if I shaved his curly brown hair, I'd find tiny horns on his head.**

"You would." Dionysus confirmed.

**But I was too miserable to care that satyrs existed, or even minotaurs. All that meant was my mom really had been squeezed into nothingness, dissolved into yellow light.**

Ares frowned. "Not dead." He suddenly said.

"What do you mean by that?" Artemis asked, curious.

"Hades' using the girl's mother as hostage. For something – what I don't know." Ares smirked. "Oldest trick in the book. Anyone can see that."

"I'm surprised that you even knew." Athena grumbled.

"War god, meh."

**I was alone. An orphan. I would have to live with ... Smelly Gabe?**

Poseidon glowered. "Over my dead body." He muttered darkly.

"Which wouldn't happen at all." Apollo said. "You can't die."

"Exactly." Poseidon said. "Regardless of the rules."

**No. That would never happen. I would live on the streets first. I would pretend I was seventeen and join the army. I'd do something.**

**Grover was still sniffling. The poor kid- poor goat, satyr, whatever- looked as if he expected to be hit.**

**I said, "It wasn't your fault."**

"You should add salt into the wound, niece. Hurt him with words. Blame it all on him." Zeus implored.

**"Yes, it was. I was supposed to **_**protect **_**you."**

**"Did my mother ask you to protect me?"**

**"No. But that's my job. I'm a keeper. At least... I was."**

"If I have it my way, you will never be a keeper again." Zeus snorted.

**"But why ..." I suddenly felt dizzy, my vision swimming.**

**"Don't strain yourself," Grover said. "Here." He helped me hold my glass and put the straw to my lips.**

**I recoiled at the taste, because I was expecting apple juice. It wasn't that at all. It was chocolate-chip cookies. Liquid cookies.**

**And not just any cookies- my mom's homemade blue chocolate-chip cookies, buttery and hot, with the chips still melting. Drinking it, my whole body felt warm and good, full of energy. My grief didn't go away, but I felt as if my mom had just brushed her hand against my cheek, given me a cookie the way she used to when I was small, and told me everything was going to be okay.**

**Before I knew it, I'd drained the glass. I stared into it, sure I'd just had a warm drink, but the ice cubes hadn't even melted.**

**"Was it good?" Grover asked.**

**I nodded.**

**"What did it taste like?" He sounded so wistful, I felt guilty.**

**"Sorry," I said. "I should've let you taste."**

"You really should have, niece; he will die if you do – and I doubt he knew the side-effects with such a useless brain." Zeus said happily.

**His eyes got wide. "No! That's not what I meant. I just... wondered."**

**"Chocolate-chip cookies," I said. "My mom's. Home made."**

**He sighed. "And how do you feel?"**

**"Like I could throw Nancy Bobofit a hundred yards."**

**"That's good," he said. "That's good. I don't think you could risk drinking any more of that stuff"**

**"What do you mean?"**

**He took the empty glass from me gingerly, as if it were dynamite, and set it back on the table. "Come on. Chiron and Mr. D are waiting."**

"Wonder how this is going to turn out?" Apollo wondered.

"Wait and see." Hades grumbled.

**The porch wrapped all the way around the farmhouse.**

**My legs felt wobbly, trying to walk that far. Grover offered to carry the Minotaur horn, but I held on to it. I'd paid for that souvenir the hard way. I wasn't going to let it go.**

**As we came around the opposite end of the house, I caught my breath.**

"Let's she what she thinks of my prison." Dionysus said.

**We must've been on the north shore of Long Island, because on this side of the house, the valley marched all the way up to the water, which glittered about a mile in the distance. Between here and there, I simply couldn't process everything I was seeing. The landscape was dotted with buildings that looked like ancient Greek architecture: an open-air pavilion, an amphitheater, a circular arena; except that they all looked brand new, their white marble columns sparkling in the sun. In a nearby sandpit, a dozen high school-age kids and satyrs played volleyball. Canoes glided across a small lake. Kids in bright orange T-shirts like Grover's were chasing each other around a cluster of cabins nestled in the woods. Some shot targets at an archery range. Others rode horses down a wooded trail, and, unless I was hallucinating, some of their horses had wings.**

"Why, is this torture?" Hermes asked. He would have given anything to be there everyday like Dionysus was suppose to.

"The children." Dionysus replied, shrugging carelessly.

"What's wrong with the children?" Demeter glared at her nephew. There was absolutely nothing wrong with their children.

"They only cause troubles and give me headaches." Dionysus answered truthfully.

**Down at the end of the porch, two men sat across from each other at a card table. The blond-haired girl who'd spoon-fed me popcorn-flavored pudding was leaning on the porch rail next to them.**

**The man facing me was small, but porky. He had a red nose, big watery eyes, and curly hair so black it was almost purple. He looked like those paintings of baby angels- what do you call them, hubbubs? No, cherubs. That's it. He looked like a cherub who'd turned middle-aged in a trailer park.**

Dionysus mocked a look of rage. "How can she? Rude little brat."

**He wore a tiger-pattern Hawaiian shirt, and he would've fit right in at one of Gabe's poker parties,**

"By the description of this 'Smelly Gabe', the insult she's giving you is worse than many others." Artemis said, wrinkling her nose.

**Except I got the feeling this guy could've out-gambled even my step father.**

"Pssh." Hermes snorted in disbelief. "Yeah, right."

Dionysus pouted.

**"That's Mr. D," Grover murmured to me. "He's the camp director. Be polite. The girl, that's Annabeth Chase.****She's just a camper, but she's been here longer than just about anybody. And you already know Chiron..."**

**He pointed at the guy whose back was to me.**

**First, I realized he was sitting in the wheelchair. Then I recognized the tweed jacket, the thinning brown hair, the scraggly beard.**

**"Mr. Brunner!" I cried.**

**The Latin teacher turned and smiled at me. His eyes had that mischievous glint they sometimes got in class when he pulled a pop quiz and made all the multiple choice answers **_**B**_**.**

**"Ah, good, Percy," he said. "Now we have four for pinochle."**

**He offered me a chair to the right of Mr. D, who looked at me with bloodshot eyes and heaved a great sigh. "Oh, I suppose I must say it. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood. There. Now, don't expect me to be glad to see you."**

"What a nice way to greet my daughter." Poseidon said sarcastically.

"You should treat them better." Hermes said.

**"Uh, thanks." I scooted a little farther away from him because, **_**if **_**there was one thing I had learned from living with Gabe, it was how to tell when an adult has been hitting the happy juice. If Mr. D was a stranger to alcohol, I was a satyr.**

A few laughed at what the girl thought.

**"Annabeth?" Mr. Brunner called to the blond girl.**

**She came forward and Mr. Brunner introduced us. "This young lady nursed you back to health, Percy."**

**I frowned. "I thought there was someone with blue eyes." Was I hallucinating back then?**

"**A boy helped her once. That must have who you've seen."**

"**I see."**

**Mr. Brunner turned back to Annabeth, "My dear, why don't you go check on Percy's bunk? We'll be putting him in cabin eleven for now."**

**Him? I realized that my hair was still quite short and I would've easily been mistaken as a male. But I was too tired to tell them that, let them think whatever they want. I can tell them later.**

"Typical of a child of Poseidon." Athena said.

"She's mine so of course, at least her manners are better than your children's. Arrogant brats." Poseidon retorted.

Hades continued, wanting to hurry and get his turn over. Thus, an argument between Poseidon and Athena would have dragged everything out. He can't let that happen.

**Annabeth said, "Sure, Chiron."**

**She was probably my age, maybe a couple of inches taller, and a whole lot more athletic looking. With her deep tan and her curly blond hair, she was almost exactly what I thought a stereotypical California girl would look like, except her eyes ruined the image. They were startling gray, like storm clouds; pretty, but intimidating, too, as if she were analyzing the best way to take me down in a fight.**

Athena had a smug look on her face. Poseidon wanted to douse her in water to wipe it off. Urgh.

**She glanced at the minotaur horn in my hands, then back at me. I imagined she was going to say,**_**You killed a minotaur! **_**or **_**Wow, you're so awesome! **_**or something like that.**

"A big ego, much?" Hera questioned.

**Instead she said, "You drool when you sleep."**

Laughter filled the throne room of Olympus.

**Then she sprinted off down the lawn, her blond hair flying behind her.**

"I hope this isn't a sign that your daughter's infatueated with mine." Athena spat angrily.

The thought of what she had said made Poseidon want to hurl. "Please, even if she's interested in females, she would have better taste."

"Why you–" Athena's eyes blazed.

"Stop fighting, you two." Aphrodite interrupted. "I'm a goddess if love and I can tell you that Percy has no whatsoever feelings for Annabeth. She's destined to be with someone else."

**"So," I said, anxious to change the subject. "You, uh, work here, Mr. Brunner?"**

**"Not Mr. Brunner," the ex-Mr. Brunner said. "I'm afraid that was a pseudonym. You may call me Chiron."**

**"Okay." Totally confused, I looked at the director. "And Mr. D ... does that stand for something?"**

"Is your daughter looking for trouble?" Ares asked. "Not that I'm complaining when there's bloodshed."

Poseidon glared at him to shut up.

**Mr. D stopped shuffling the cards. He looked at me like I'd just belched loudly. "Young man, names are powerful things. You don't just go around using them for no reason.**

**"Oh. Right. Sorry."**

**"I must say, Percy," Chiron-Brunner broke in, "I'm glad to see you alive. It's been a long time since I've made a house call to a potential camper. I'd hate to think I've wasted my time."**

**"House call?"**

**"My year at Yancy Academy, to instruct you. We have satyrs at most schools, of course, keeping a lookout. But Grover alerted me as soon as he met you. He sensed you were something special, so I decided to come upstate. I convinced the other Latin teacher to ... ah, take a leave of absence."**

"Wonder how he did that?" Hermes wondered. "I didn't know Chiron has a way with words."

"You know almost nothing." Athena said.

"Hey!"

**I tried to remember the beginning of the school year. It seemed like so long ago, but I did have a fuzzy memory of there being another Latin teacher my first week at Yancy. Then, without explanation, he had disappeared and Mr. Brunner had taken the class.**

**"You came to Yancy just to teach me?" I asked.**

**Chiron nodded. "Honestly, I wasn't sure about you at first.****We contacted your mother, let her know we were keeping an eye on you in case you were ready for Camp Half-Blood. But you still had so much to learn. Nevertheless, you made it here alive, and that's always the first test."**

**"Grover," Mr. D said impatiently, "are you playing or not?"**

**"Yes, sir!" Grover trembled as he took the fourth chair, though I didn't know why he should be so afraid of a pudgy little man in a tiger-print Hawaiian shirt.**

"He should be," Dionysus said.

**"You **_**do **_**know how to play pinochle?" Mr. D eyed me suspiciously.**

**"I'm afraid not," I said.**

**"I'm afraid not, **_**sir**_**," he said.**

**"Sir," I repeated. I was liking the camp director less and less.**

**"Well," he told me, "it is, along with gladiator fighting and Pac-Man, one of the greatest games ever invented by humans. I would expect all**_**civilized **_**young men to know the rules."**

**"I'm sure the boy can learn," Chiron said. Mr. D looked me over when Chiron said 'boy'. I had a feeling that Mr. D knew my real gender. I was just waiting for him to say something about it but he didn't.**

**"Please," I said after a moment's of silence, "what is this place? What am I doing here? Mr. Brun-Chiron, why would you go to Yancy Academy just to teach me?"**

**Mr. D snorted. "I asked the same question."**

"Because she's my daughter." Poseidon smiled fondly.

**The camp director dealt the cards. Grover flinched every time one landed in his pile.**

**Chiron smiled at me sympathetically, the way he used to in Latin class, as if to let me know that no matter what my average was, **_**I **_**was his star student. He expected **_**me **_**to have the right answer.**

**"Percy," he said. "Did your mother tell you nothing?'**

**"She said ..." I remembered her sad eyes, looking out over the sea. "She told me she was afraid to send me here, even though my father had wanted her to. She said that once I was here, I probably couldn't leave. She wanted to keep me close to her."**

"Which was what got her killed." Hepheastus said.

**"Typical," Mr. D said. "That's how they usually get killed. Young man, are you bidding or not?"**

**"What?" I asked.**

**He explained, impatiently, how you bid in pinochle, and so I did.**

**"I'm afraid there's too much to tell," Chiron said. "I'm afraid our usual orientation film won't be sufficient."**

**"Orientation film?" I asked.**

**"No," Chiron decided. "Well, Percy. You know your friend Grover is a satyr. You know-" he pointed to the horn in the shoe box- "that you have killed the Minotaur. No small feat, either, lad. What you may not know is that great powers are at work in your life. Gods – the forces you call the Greek gods – are very much alive."**

**I stared at the others around the table.**

**I waited for somebody to yell, **_**Not! **_**But all I got was Mr. D yelling, "Oh, a royal marriage. Trick! Trick!" He cackled as he tallied up his points.**

**"Mr. D," Grover asked timidly, "if you're not going to eat it, could I have your Diet Coke can?"**

**"Eh? Oh, all right."**

"Oh you are _so_ generous, son." Zeus said rolling his eyes.

**Grover bit a huge shard out of the empty aluminum can and chewed it mournfully.**

**"Wait," I told Chiron. "You're telling me there's such a thing as god."**

**"Well, now," Chiron said. "God- capital **_**G**_**, God. That's a different matter altogether. We shan't deal with the metaphysical."**

**"Metaphysical? But you were just talking about-"**

**"Ah, gods, plural, as in, great beings that control the forces of nature and human endeavors: the immortal gods of Olympus. That's a smaller matter."**

"Does Chiron realize how offending he sound?" Apollo demanded as a few of the Olympians face grew stormy. All of them were quite offended.

**"Smaller?"**

**"Yes, quite. The gods we discussed in Latin class."**

**"Zeus," I said. "Hera. Apollo. You mean them."**

"Wonder why she didn't mention her father." Artemis said.

"Their empathy links gone?" Apollo suggested.

**And there it was again, distant thunder on a cloud less day.**

**"Young woman or man, whichever you choose to be," said Mr. D, "I would really be less casual about throwing those names around, if I were you."**

**"But they're stories," I said. "They're – myths, to explain lightning and the seasons and stuff. They're what people believed before there was science."**

"Oh, your daughter's brain capacity astounds me!" Athena exclaimd dramatically.

"Give her a break, she just found out!" Poseidon defended his daughter.

**"Science!" Mr. D scoffed. "And tell me, Persephone Jackson" – I flinched when he said my real name, which I never told anybody – "what will people think of your 'science' two thousand years from now?" Mr. D continued. "Hmm? They will call it primitive mumbo jumbo. That's what. Oh, I love mortals- they have absolutely no sense of perspective. They think they've come **_**so-o-o **_**far. And have they, Chiron? Look at this girl-boy and tell me."**

**Chiron looked at me oddly. As if he was still trying to figure out why Mr. D called me a girl. I was pretty sure he will figure it out soon.**

"It must be confusing for Chiron that didn't know her gender yet. Poor centaur." Apollo said.

"Why can't you just clear it up for them?" Hera asked her step-son.

"It's fun confusing others." Dionysus smiled.

**I wasn't liking Mr. D much, but there was something about the way he called me mortal, as if... he wasn't.**

**It was enough to put a lump in my throat, to suggest why Grover was dutifully minding his cards, chewing his soda can, and keeping his mouth shut.**

**"Percy," Chiron said, "you may choose to believe or not, but the fact is that **_**immortal **_**means immortal. Can you imagine that for a moment, never dying? Never fading? Existing, just as you are, for all time?"**

**I was about to answer, off the top of my head, that it sounded like a pretty good deal, but the tone of Chiron's voice made me hesitate.**

**"You mean, whether people believed in you or not," I said.**

**"Exactly," Chiron agreed. "If you were a god, how would you like being called a myth, an old story to explain lightning?What if I told you, Persephone Jackson, that some day people would call **_**you **_**a myth, just created to explain how little girls can get over losing their mothers?" That last staement pretty much confirms that he now knew I was a girl.**

"That's a low blow, Chiron." Hermes said shaking his head as Poseidon growled.

"Why? I would give almost anything to lose _my _mother." Hephaestus stated. Everyone but Hera laughed at his comment – in fact, she looked slightly hurt. "I would have traded places with her in a heartbeat."

**My heart pounded. He was trying to make me angry for some reason, but I wasn't going to let him. I said, "I wouldn't like it. But I don't believe in gods."**

**"Oh, you'd better," Mr. D murmured. "Before one of them incinerates you."**

**Grover said, "P-please, sir. He's just lost his mother. He's in shock." But ... apparently, Grover still hadn't caught the hint.**

**"A lucky thing, too," Mr. D grumbled, playing a card. "Bad enough I'm confined to this miserable job, working with boys who don't even believe.'"**

**He waved his hand and a goblet appeared on the table, as if the sunlight had bent, momentarily, and woven the air into glass. The goblet filled itself with red wine.**

"Your restrictions ..." Zeus grumbled. "... or have you forgot?"

**My jaw dropped, but Chiron hardly looked up.**

**"Mr. D," he warned, "your restrictions."**

**Mr. D looked at the wine and feigned surprise.**

**"Dear me." He looked at the sky and yelled, "Old habits! Sorry!"**

**More thunder.**

"Even Zeus wouldn't believe something like that." Hades said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Zeus cried while everyone laughed.

**Mr. D waved his hand again, and the wineglass changed into a fresh can of Diet Coke. He sighed unhappily, popped the top of the soda, and went back to his card game.**

**Chiron winked at me. "Mr. D offended his father a while back, took a fancy to a wood nymph who had been declared off-limits."**

**"A wood nymph," I repeated, still staring at the Diet Coke can like it was from outer space.**

**"Yes," Mr. D confessed. "Father loves to punish me.**

"You deserved it." Zeus replied smugly while Dionysus pouted.

**The first time, Prohibition. Ghastly! Absolutely horrid ten years! The second time – well, she really was pretty, and I couldn't stay away – the second time, he sent me here. Half-Blood Hill. Summer camp for brats like you. 'Be a better influence,' he told me. 'Work with youths rather than tearing them down.' Ha.' Absolutely unfair."**

**Mr. D sounded about six years old, like a pouting little kid.**

**"And ..." I stammered, "your father is ..."**

"Oh, I can't believe it." Athena moaned. After a moment of silence, she said. "Oh, yes, knowing her father I can believe it."

_**"Di immortales, **_**Chiron," Mr. D said. "I thought you taught this boy the basics. My father is Zeus, of course."**

**I ran through D names from Greek mythology. Wine. The skin of a tiger. The satyrs that all seemed to work here. The way Grover cringed, as if Mr. D were his master.**

**"You're Dionysus," I said. "The god of wine."**

**Mr. D rolled his eyes. "What do they say, these days, Grover? Do the children say, 'Well, duh!'?"**

**"Y-yes, Mr. D."**

**"Then, well, duh! Percy Jackson. Did you think I was Aphrodite, perhaps?"**

Aphrodite looked offended; others laughed. "Even Poseidon's daughter wouldn't mistake you as Aprhodite." Athena said, rolling her eyes.

**"You're a god."**

**"Yes, child."**

**"A god. You."**

"She really has a death wish." Hera muttered. "For saying something like that."

**He turned to look at me straight on, and I saw a kind of purplish fire in his eyes, a hint that this whiny, plump little man was only showing me the tiniest bit of his true nature. I saw visions of grape vines choking unbelievers to death, drunken warriors insane with battle lust, sailors screaming as their hands turned to flippers, their faces elongating into dolphin snouts. I knew that if I pushed him, Mr. D would show me worse things. He would plant a disease in my brain that would leave me wearing a strait-jacket in a rubber room for the rest of my life.**

**"Would you like to test me, child?" he said quietly.**

**"No. No, sir."**

**The fire died a little. He turned back to his card game. "I believe I win."**

Apollo snorted. "Just wait and see. I can't believe D will win."

"Hey!"

**"Not quite, Mr. D," Chiron said. He set down a straight, tallied the points, and said, "The game goes to me."**

Apollo smirked. "See what I mean?"

"You must've meant 'hear what I mean'. You didn't see, you heard." Artemis corrected her twin brother.

**I thought Mr. D was going to vaporize Chiron right out of his wheelchair, but he just sighed through his nose, as if he were used to being beaten by the Latin teacher. He got up, and Grover rose, too.**

**"I'm tired," Mr. D said. "I believe I'll take a nap before the sing-along tonight. But first, Grover, we need to talk, **_**again, **_**about your less-than-perfect performance on this assignment."**

"Good job, son." Zeus smiled.

**Grover's face beaded with sweat. "Y-yes, sir."**

**Mr. D turned to me. "Cabin eleven, Percy Jackson. And mind your manners."**

**He swept into the farmhouse, Grover following miserably.**

**"Will Grover be okay?" I asked Chiron.**

**Chiron nodded, though he looked a bit troubled. "Old Dionysus isn't really mad. He just hates his job.**

"_Very true_." Dionysus interjected.

**He's been ... ah, grounded, I guess you would say, and he can't stand waiting another century before he's allowed to go back to Olympus."**

**"Mount Olympus," I said. "You're telling me there really is a palace there?"**

**"Well now, there's Mount Olympus in Greece. And then there's the home of the gods, the convergence point of their powers, which did indeed used to be on Mount Olympus. It's still called Mount Olympus, out of respect to the old ways, but the palace moves, Percy, just as the gods do."**

"Oh here comes a boring explanation." Ares stated. "Can we skip it?"

"We might miss something important." Athena reasoned. "So no."

Ares grumbled, disappointed.

**"You mean the Greek gods are here? Like ... in**_**America**_**?"**

**"Well, certainly. The gods move with the heart of the West."**

**"The what?"**

**"Come now, Percy. What you call 'Western civilization.' Do you think it's just an abstract concept? No, it's a living force. A collective consciousness that has burned bright for thousands of years. The gods are part of it. You might even say they are the source of it, or at least, they are tied so tightly to it that they couldn't possibly fade, not unless all of Western civilization were obliterated. The fire started in Greece. Then, as you well know- or as I hope you know, since you passed my course- the heart of the fire moved to Rome, and so did the gods. Oh, different names, perhaps- Jupiter for Zeus, Venus for Aphrodite, and so on- but the same forces, the same gods."**

**"And then they died."**

"I don't know what so say anymore." Athena moaned.

**"Died? No. Did the West die? The gods simply moved, to Germany, to France, to Spain, for a while. Wherever the flame was brightest, the gods were there. They spent several centuries in England. All you need to do is look at the architecture.**

**People do not forget the gods. Every place they've ruled, for the last three thousand years, you can see them in paintings, in statues, on the most important buildings. And yes, Percy, of course they are now in your United States. Look at your symbol, the eagle of Zeus. Look at the statue of Prometheus in Rockefeller Center, the Greek facades of your government buildings in Washington. I defy you to find any American city where the Olympians are not prominently displayed in multiple places. Like it or not- and believe me, plenty of people weren't very fond of Rome, either- America is now the heart of the flame. It is the great power of the West. And so Olympus is here. And we are here."**

**It was all too much, especially the fact that **_**I**_**seemed to be included in Chiron's **_**we, **_**as if I were part of some club.**

**"Who are you, Chiron? Who ... who am I?"**

"It sounds so cliche and dramatic." Demeter said.

"Like I said, it runs in the family." Hades replied.

**Chiron smiled. He shifted his weight as if he were going to get up out of his wheelchair, but I knew that was impossible. He was paralyzed from the waist down.**

**"Who are you?" he mused. "Well, that's the question we all want answered, isn't it? But for now, we should get you a bunk in cabin eleven. There will be new friends to meet. And plenty of time for lessons tomorrow. Besides, there will be s'mores at the campfire tonight, and I simply adore chocolate."**

**And then he did rise from his wheelchair. But there was something odd about the way he did it. His blanket fell away from his legs, but the legs didn't move. His waist kept getting longer, rising above his belt. At first, I thought he was wearing very long, white velvet underwear, but as he kept rising out of the chair, taller than any man, I realized that the velvet underwear wasn't underwear; it was the front of an animal, muscle and sinew under coarse white fur. And the wheelchair wasn't a chair. It was some kind of container, an enormous box on wheels, and it must've been magic, because there's no way it could've held all of him. A leg came out, long and knobby-kneed, with a huge polished hoof. Then another front leg, then hindquarters, and then the box was empty, nothing but a metal shell with a couple of fake human legs attached.**

**I stared at the horse who had just sprung from the wheelchair: a huge white stallion. But where its neck should be was the upper body of my Latin teacher, smoothly grafted to the horse's trunk.**

**"What a relief," the centaur said. "I'd been cooped up in there so long, my fetlocks had fallen asleep. Now, come, Percy Jackson. Let's meet the other campers."**

"... and done." Hades said, sighing. "Who's next?"

Poseidon reached for the book. "Might as well get over it."

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_A/N: As you can notice, there are some changes. Not much Luke/Percy, but there will be in the next chapter. Also, the respond to some reviews, are up there, at the very beginning of the chapter. I hope now that everything is clear._

_Thanks for favouriting and following! Once again, leave a review!_


	6. Chapter 6

**Genre:** Romance/Family/Humor

**Rated: **T

**Pairing(s):** Fem!Percy/Luke

**Summary:** AU. Percy and Luke make a good couple in my opinion. So I tweaked it a little because M/M isn't something I'm very good at writing. Percy's personality will be the same. What would happen if the gods read the books before they knew of Percy?

**Setting**: This starts on the day after Thalia is turned into her tree. So the ages are as below:

Percy: 7

Luke: 14

Annabeth: 7

**Disclaimer:** I do not own **Percy Jackson and the Olympians**

**Warning(s):** AU(Seeing as Percy's female) Obviously there will be spoilers to the books. Also I'm sorry if there are any grammar or spelling mistakes, please forgive me!

* * *

Chapter 6: I BECOME SUPREME LORD OF THE BATHROOM

* * *

**Once I got over the fact that my Latin teacher was a horse,**

"A Centaur." Athena corrected.

"She can't hear you." Poseidon retorted, irritated. Athena glared at him for defying her.

**we had a nice tour, though I was careful not to walk behind him. I'd done pooper-scooper patrol in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade a few times, and, I'm sorry, I did not trust Chiron's back end the way I trusted his front.**

The council started laughing at the girl's thoughts.

**We passed the volleyball pit. Several of the campers nudged each other. One pointed to the Minotaur horn I was carrying. Another said, "That's him."**

"Her," Poseidon muttered. He had never had a demi-god daughter before, and he wanted everyone to know that he was capable of having one. It felt good to rub it in Hades and Zeus' faces that he had a daughter. A rarity since he had never sired female demi-gods before.

**Most of the campers were older than me. Their satyr friends were bigger than Grover, all of them trotting around in orange CAMP HALF-BLOOD T-shirts, with nothing else to cover their bare shaggy hindquarters. I wasn't normally shy, but the way they stared at me made me uncomfortable. I felt like they were expecting me to do a flip or something.**

"Well, its because they heard of what you did." Apollo chuckled.

**I looked back at the farmhouse. It was a lot bigger than I'd realized—four stories tall, sky blue with white trim, like an upscale seaside resort. I was checking out the brass eagle weather vane on top when something caught my eye, a shadow in the uppermost window of the attic gable. Something had moved the curtain, just for a second, and I got the distinct impression I was being watched.**

"My Oracle." Apollo declared proudly. Then his smile dropped when he fully took in what had been read. "Did the Oracle just _move_?"

Heads whipped up at this. "What? Really?" No one noticed Hades guilty look.

**"What's up there?" I asked Chiron.**

**He looked where I was pointing, and his smile faded. "Just the attic."**

**"Somebody lives there?"**

**"No," he said with finality. "Not a single living thing."**

**I got the feeling he was being truthful. But I was also sure something had moved that curtain.**

"The Oracle moved!" Apollo repeated.

"Yes, we know." Demeter said, rolling her eyes. "Don't get so excited."

"But she hadn't done anything in years." Apollo pouted.

"Well, she's dead." Hades replied. "What do you expect?"

"She just wouldn't switch bodies." Apollo continued to pout childishly.

Hades and Hermes winced; but for completely different reasons.

**"Come along, Percy," Chiron said, his lighthearted tone now a little forced. "Lots to see."**

**We walked through the strawberry fields, where campers were picking bushels of berries while a satyr played a tune on a reed pipe.**

**Chiron told me the camp grew a nice crop for export to New York restaurants and Mount Olympus. "It pays our expenses," he explained. "And the strawberries take almost no effort."**

"Not when I'm there." Dionysus said.

**He said Mr. D had this effect on fruit-bearing plants: they just went crazy when he was around. It worked best with wine grapes, but Mr. D was restricted from growing those, so they grew strawberries instead.**

"Good, or you'll be spending another century there." Zeus nodded.

Dionysus winced. He would hate that; he hoped that his book self wouldn't do anything stupid.

**I watched the satyr playing his pipe. His music was causing lines of bugs to leave the strawberry patch in every direction, like refugees fleeing a fire. I wondered if Grover could work that kind of magic with music.**

Zeus snorted. "As if. He's worthless."

Hestia frowned reprimandingly. "Don't judge just yet, brother. He may have redeemed himself in this book." Zeus huffed like a petulant child would but he didn't object.

**I wondered if he was still inside the farmhouse, getting chewed out by Mr. D.**

"Most likely." Artemis clarified.

**"Grover won't get in too much trouble, will he?" I asked Chiron. "I mean ... he was a good protector. Really."**

"Don't. Encourage. Him." Zeus ground out. Poseidon nodded in agreement. He didn't trust the satyr to take care of his only daughter.

**Chiron sighed. He shed his tweed jacket and draped it over his horses back like a saddle. "Grover has big dreams, Percy. Perhaps bigger than are reasonable. To reach his goal, he must first demonstrate great courage by succeeding as a keeper, finding a new camper and bringing him safely to Half-Blood Hill."**

**"But he did that!"**

**"I might agree with you," Chiron said. "But it is not my place to judge. Dionysus and the Council of Cloven Elders must decide. I'm afraid they might not see this assignment as a success. After all, Grover lost you in New York. Then there's the unfortunate ... ah ... fate of your mother. And the fact that Grover was unconscious when you dragged him over the property line. The council might question whether this shows any courage on Grover's part."**

"I'm so glad he did that." Zeus smirked.

"You sure can hold a grudge." Hades mumbled.

"It runs in the family." Athena pointed out, looking at him.

**I wanted to protest. None of what happened was Grover's fault. I also felt really, really guilty. If I hadn't given Grover the slip at the bus station, he might not have gotten in trouble.**

**"He'll get a second chance, won't he?"**

**Chiron winced. "I'm afraid that was Grover's second chance, Percy. The council was not anxious to give him another, either, after what happened the first time, five years ago.**

**Olympus knows, I advised him to wait longer before trying again. He's still so small for his age..."**

**"How old is he?"**

**"Oh, twenty-eight."**

**"What! And he's in sixth grade?"**

**"Satyrs mature half as fast as humans, Percy. Grover has been the equivalent of a middle school student for the past six years."**

**"That's horrible."**

"I agree." Hermes grimaced. "To be aging so slowly."

"You're immortal." Demeter reminded him. "Isn't that even worse?"

"True." Apollo agreed.

**"Quite," Chiron agreed. "At any rate, Grover is a late bloomer, even by satyr standards, and not yet very accomplished at woodland magic. Alas, he was anxious to pursue his dream. Perhaps now he will find some other career..."**

**"That's not fair," I said. "What happened the first time? Was it really so bad?"**

"Yes." Zeus muttered darkly. "It was that bad. In fact, he should count himself lucky that I haven't blasted him to bits yet."

**Chiron looked away quickly. "Let's move along, shall we?"**

**But I wasn't quite ready to let the subject drop. Something had occurred to me when Chiron talked about my mother's fate, as if he were intentionally avoiding the word death. The beginnings of an idea—a tiny, hopeful fire—started forming in my mind.**

"Children of Poseidon's ideas are all horrible." Athena sighed. "Don't bother your brain thinking girl, you might just melt your brain."

"Hey!" Who else but Poseidon would be offended?

**"Chiron," I said. "If the gods and Olympus and all that are real ..."**

**"Yes, child?"**

**"Does that mean the Underworld is real, too?"**

"I think I have a feeling of what her plan is." Hades muttered.

**Chiron's expression darkened.**

"Its not that bad." Hades rolled his eyes.

**"Yes, child." He paused, as if choosing his words care fully. "There is a place where spirits go after death. But for now ... until we know more ... I would urge you to put that out of your mind."**

**"What do you mean, 'until we know more'?"**

**"Come, Percy. Let's see the woods."**

**As we got closer, I realized how huge the forest was. It took up at least a quarter of the valley, with trees so tall and thick, you could imagine nobody had been in there since the Native Americans.**

**Chiron said, "The woods are stocked, if you care to try your luck, but go armed."**

**"Stocked with what?" I asked. "Armed with what?"**

**"You'll see. Capture the flag is Friday night. Do you have your own sword and shield?"**

"Chiron—how do you expect her to have something like that?" Poseidon demanded, exasperated and increduloud. "She didn't even know monsters exist until today!"

**"My own—?"**

**"No," Chiron said. "I don't suppose you do. I think a size five will do. I'll visit the armory later."**

**I wanted to ask what kind of summer camp had an armory, **

"One inhabited by Greeks," Hera interjected.

**but there was too much else to think about, so the tour continued. We saw the archery range, the canoeing lake, the stables (which Chiron didn't seem to like very much),** **the javelin range, the sing-along amphitheater, and the arena where Chiron said they held sword and spear fights.**

**"Sword and spear fights?" I asked.**

**"Cabin challenges and all that," he explained. "Not lethal. Usually. Oh, yes, and there's the mess hall."**

**Chiron pointed to an outdoor pavilion framed in white Grecian columns on a hill overlooking the sea. There were a dozen stone picnic tables. No roof. No walls.**

**"What do you do when it rains?" I asked.**

**Chiron looked at me as if I'd gone a little weird.**

**"We still have to eat, don't we?" I decided to drop the subject.**

"As you should." Athena said. "All will be explained in time."

**Finally, he showed me the cabins. There were twelve of them, nestled in the woods by the lake. They were arranged in a U, with two at the base and five in a row on either side. And they were without doubt the most bizarre collection of buildings I'd ever seen.**

**Except for the fact that each had a large brass number above the door (odds on the left side, evens on the right), they looked absolutely nothing alike. **

**Number nine had smokestacks, like a tiny factory. **

Hephaestus sat up straighter, practically glowing with pride. "Mine."

**Number four had tomato vines on the walls and a roof made out of real grass.**

Demeter smiled at the mention of her cabin.

**Seven seemed to be made of solid gold, which gleamed so much in the sunlight it was almost impossible to look at.**

Apollo grinned cheekily.

**they all faced a commons area about the size of a soccer field, dotted with Greek statues, fountains, flower beds, and a couple of basketball hoops (which were more my speed).**

**In the center of the field was a huge stone-lined fire-pit Even though it was a warm afternoon, the hearth smoldered. A girl about nine years old was tending the flames, poking the coals with a stick.**

"She saw me!" Hestia declared, delighted. It was a rare thing for demi-gods to pay attention to her.

"Why are you acting as if you had won the lottery?" Hera asked, puzzled.

"Because not many people would notice me." Hestia replied softly. "I'm glad she did." Hestia was the most forgotten of the Olympians. Few recalled the time when she'd sat upon a throne of power like her five younger siblings. None truly remembered how she had sadly, yet humbly rose and stepped down, head held high, and gave her throne to the young Dionysus to keep the peace.

No one would write poems for her once she had lost her throne of power and she was saddened by that.

**The pair of cabins at the head of the field, numbers one and two, looked like his-and-hers mausoleums, big white marble boxes with heavy columns in front. Cabin one was the biggest and bulkiest of the twelve. Its polished bronze doors shimmered like a hologram, so that from different angles lightning bolts seemed to streak across them. **

**I grimaced. Erggh, lightning.**

Zeus smirked

**Cabin two was more graceful somehow, with slimmer columns garlanded with pomegranates and flowers. The walls were carved with images of peacocks.**

Hera mirrored her husband's expression. They truly were a matching pair.

**"Zeus and Hera?" I guessed.**

**"Correct," Chiron said.**

**"Their cabins look empty."**

**"Several of the cabins are. That's true. No one ever stays in one or two."**

**Okay. So each cabin had a different god, like a mascot.**

"I don't really like that description." Artemis muttered.

**Twelve cabins for the twelve Olympians. But why would some be empty?**

"As they should be for some of them." Hades said darkly.

**I stopped in front of the first cabin on the left, cabin three.**

"She noticed." Poseidon smiled.

"As if you were calling for her through there." Demeter noted.

**It wasn't high and mighty like cabin one, but long and low and solid. The outer walls were of rough gray stone studded with pieces of seashell and coral, as if the slabs had been hewn straight from the bottom of the ocean floor. I peeked inside the open doorway and Chiron said, "Oh, I wouldn't do that!"**

**Before he could pull me back, I caught the salty scent of the interior, like the wind on the shore at Montauk. The interior walls glowed like abalone. There were six empty bunk beds with silk sheets turned down. But there was no sign anyone had ever slept there. The place felt so sad and lonely, I was glad when Chiron put his hand on my shoulder**

Poseidon smiled sadly. "I'm sure your brothers would have welcomed you with open arms." His eyes darkened. "You would have had so many siblings if it wasn't for someone." Cue dirty looks at Zeus.

**and said, "Come along, Percy."**

**Most of the other cabins were crowded with campers.** **Number five was bright red—a real nasty paint job, as if the color had been splashed on with buckets and fists.** **The roof was lined with barbed wire. A stuffed wild boar's head hung over the doorway, and its eyes seemed to follow me. Inside I could see a bunch of mean-looking kids, both girls and boys, arm wrestling and arguing with each other while rock music blared. The loudest was a girl maybe thirteen or fourteen. She wore a size XXXL CAMP HALF-BLOOD T-shirt under a camouflage jacket. She zeroed in on me and gave me an evil sneer. She reminded me of Nancy Bobofit, though the camper girl was much bigger and tougher looking, and her hair was long and stringy, and brown instead of red.**

Ares grinned.

**I kept walking, trying to stay clear of Chiron's hooves. "We haven't seen any other centaurs," I observed.**

**"No," said Chiron sadly. "My kinsmen are a wild and barbaric folk,** **I'm afraid. You might encounter them in the wilderness, or at major sporting events. But you won't see any here."**

"Too bad." Dionysus said. "I would have loved the presence of the Party Ponies."

**"You said your name was Chiron. Are you really ..."**

**He smiled down at me. "The Chiron from the stories? Trainer of Hercules and all that? Yes, Percy, I am."**

**"But, shouldn't you be dead?"**

Athena or anyone else for the matter wisely chose to keep their mouth shut. Not one of them wanted to get douse with water.

**Chiron paused, as if the question intrigued him. "I honestly don't know about should be. The truth is, I can't be dead. You see, eons ago the gods granted my wish. I could continue the work I loved. I could be a teacher of heroes as long as humanity needed me. I gained much from that wish ... and I gave up much. But I'm still here, so I can only assume I'm still needed."**

"You are." Hephaestus said. Everyone pounded their weapons in agreement.

**I thought about being a teacher for three thousand years. It wouldn't have made my Top Ten Things to Wish For list.**

**"Doesn't it ever get boring?"**

**"No, no," he said. "Horribly depressing, at times, but never boring."**

**"Why depressing?"**

**Chiron seemed to turn hard of hearing again.**

**"Oh, look," he said. "Annabeth is waiting for us."**

**The blond girl I'd met at the Big House was reading a book in front of the last cabin on the left, number eleven.**

**When we reached her, she looked me over critically, like she was still thinking about how much I drooled.**

Poseidon started muttering under his breath. "Typical arrogant children of Athena."

**I tried to see what she was reading, but I couldn't make out the title. I thought my dyslexia was acting up. Then I realized the title wasn't even English. The letters looked Greek to me. I mean, literally Greek.** **There were pictures of temples and statues and different kinds of columns, like those in an architecture book.**

**"Annabeth," Chiron said, "I have masters' archery class at noon. Would you take Percy from here?"**

"She could do so much more important and useful things than showing a sea spawn around." Athena grumbled.

**"Yes, sir."**

"Why wouldn't she protest?" Athena nearly whined.

"Because she's much nicer than you." Poseidon glared at her.

**"Cabin eleven," Chiron told me, gesturing toward the doorway. "Make yourself at home."**

**Out of all the cabins, eleven looked the most like a regular old summer camp cabin, with the emphasis on old.**

"I really need to do something about that, shouldn't I?" Hermes sighed. "The children can't live in such a dump."

**The threshold was worn down, the brown paint peeling. Over the doorway was one of those doctor's symbols, a winged pole with two snakes wrapped around it. What did they call it... ?**

**A caduceus.**

**Inside, it was packed with people, both boys and girls, way more than the number of bunk beds. **

"I really should." Hermes frowned. "They can't be comfortable in there."

"You should just make the cabin bigger." Apollo suggested.

"After this chapter, we're taking a break and I'm going to do the renovations."

**Sleeping bags were spread all over on the floor. It looked like a gym where the Red Cross had set up an evacuation center.**

**Chiron didn't go in. The door was too low for him. But when the campers saw him they all stood and bowed respectfully.**

**"Well, then," Chiron said. "Good luck, Percy. I'll see you at dinner."**

**He galloped away toward the archery range.**

**I stood in the doorway, looking at the kids. They weren't bowing anymore. They were staring at me, sizing me up. I knew this routine. I'd gone through it at enough schools.**

**"Well?" Annabeth prompted. "Go on."**

**So naturally I tripped coming in the door and almost made a total fool of myself. I would've fallen flat on my face if someone hadn't caught my forearm and steady me. I mumbled a thanks, not really seeing who had been the one to steady me.**

"That's quite rude." Hera frowned.

**There were some snickers from the campers, but none of them said anything.**

**Annabeth announced, "Percy Jackson, meet cabin eleven."**

**"Regular or undetermined?" somebody asked.**

**I didn't know what to say, but Annabeth said, "Undetermined."**

**Everybody groaned.**

**"Now, now, campers. That's what we're here for. Welcome, Percy. You can have that spot on the floor, right over there." I turned to see who had spoken. I realized that it the guy that had caught me before I fell earlier.**

**The guy was about nineteen, and he looked pretty cute. He was tall and muscular, with short-cropped sandy hair and a friendly smile. He wore an orange tank top, cutoffs, sandals, and a leather necklace with five different-colored clay beads. The only thing unsettling about his appearance was a thick white scar that ran from just beneath his right eye to his jaw, like an old knife slash.**

**"This is Luke,"** **Annabeth said, and her voice sounded different somehow.**

**Said guy smirked down at me. "Finally woke up, sleeping beauty?" He teased. **

Aphrodite squealed loudly, nearly shattering eardrums. "I knew it!" She crowed. "He likes her!"

"There's no prove of that yet." Poseidon scowled. He didn't like the idea of his daughter dating anyone.

**I choked on my own spit. Embarrassed, I glanced over at Annabeth for help **

"Dream on, sea spawn." Athena said haughtily. "My daughter will never help _you_."

**and could've sworn she was blushing.**

Aphrodite squealed even louder. "A love-triangle!" She nearly shrieked. Poseidon, Hermes and Athena winced.

"Fighting over your son, you must be so proud." Apollo remarked, smirking.

Hermes afford a grin.

**She saw me looking, and her expression hardened again. "He's your counselor, for now."**

**"For now?" I asked.**

**"You're undetermined," Luke explained patiently.**

"See? He's a nice boy!" Hermes announced.

Poseidon didn't look convinced while the others agreed with Hermes.

**"They don't know what cabin to put you in, so you're here. Cabin eleven takes all newcomers, all visitors. Naturally, we would. Hermes, our patron, is the god of travelers."**

**I looked at the tiny section of floor they'd given me. I had nothing to put there to mark it as my own, no luggage, no clothes, no sleeping bag. Just the Minotaur's horn. I thought about setting that down, but then I remembered that Hermes was also the god of thieves.**

"Damn." Hermes cursed. "The horn would have been nice if my one of my children are holding onto it."

"Are you implying something?" Poseidon asked, tone of voice dark and menacing.

"No," Hermes squeaked.

**I looked around at the campers' faces, some sullen and suspicious, some grinning stupidly, some eyeing me as if they were waiting for a chance to pick my pockets.**

**"How long will I be here?" I asked.**

**"Good question," Luke said. "Until you're determined."**

**"How long will that take?"**

**The campers all laughed. **

Everyone winced. So their children's opinion of them were _that_ low.

**Annabeth was one of them.**

Athena frowned. What was wrong with her daughter? Annabeth was never that mean nor was she that faithless.

**"Come on," Annabeth told me after she managed to calm herself. "I'll show you the volleyball court."**

**"I've already seen it."**

**"Come on." She grabbed my wrist and dragged me outside. I could hear the kids of cabin eleven laughing behind me.**

**When we were a few feet away, Annabeth said, "Jackson, you have to do better than that."**

**"What?"**

**She rolled her eyes and mumbled under her breath, "I can't believe I thought you were the one."**

"She would never ever be the one – whatever it was for." Athena huffed.

"Yes, the one in your love life maybe." Aphrodite giggled madly.

"Would you stop it?" Poseidon made a face; Athena gagged.

"Don't even imply it!"

**"What's your problem?" I was getting angry now. "All I know is, I kill some bull guy—"**

**"Don't talk like that!" Annabeth told me. "You know how many kids at this camp wish they'd had your chance?"**

**"To get killed?"**

**"To fight the Minotaur! What do you think we train for?"**

**I shook my head. "Look, if the thing I fought really was the Minotaur, the same one in the stories ..."**

**"Yes."**

**"Then there's only one."**

**"Yes."**

**"And he died, like, a gajillion years ago, right? Theseus killed him in the labyrinth. So ..."**

Athena sighed.

**"Monsters don't die, Percy. They can be killed. But they don't die."**

**"Oh, thanks. That clears it up."**

"She's being sarcastic." Hermes smiled.

**"They don't have souls, like you and me. You can dispel them for a while, maybe even for a whole lifetime if you're lucky. But they are primal forces. Chiron calls them arche types. Eventually, they re-form."**

**I thought about Mrs. Dodds. "You mean if I killed one, accidentally, with a sword—"**

**"The Fur ... I mean, your math teacher. That's right. She's still out there. You just made her very, very mad."**

**"How did you know about Mrs. Dodds?"**

**"You talk in your sleep."**

A few snorted at this.

**"You almost called her something. A Fury? They're Hades' torturers, right?"**

**Annabeth glanced nervously at the ground, as if she expected it to open up and swallow her.**

"I do no such thing!" Hades cried, indignant when everyone turned to him.

**"You shouldn't call them by name, even here. We call them the Kindly Ones, if we have to speak of them at all."**

**"Look, is there anything we can say without it thundering?" I sounded whiny, even to myself, but right then I didn't care. "Why do I have to stay in cabin eleven, anyway? Why is everybody so crowded together? There are plenty of empty bunks right over there."**

**I pointed to the first few cabins, and Annabeth turned pale. "You don't just choose a cabin, Percy. It depends on who your parents are. Or ... your parent."**

**She stared at me, waiting for me to get it.**

**"My mom is Sally Jackson," I said. "She works at the candy store in Grand Central Station. At least, she used to."**

**"I'm sorry about your mom, Percy. But that's not what I mean. I'm talking about your other parent. Your dad."**

**"He's dead. I never knew him."**

Poseidon flinched. He mumbled feebly, "Not my fault – its because of some stupid Ancient Rules." He glared at Hera and Zeus.

**Annabeth sighed. Clearly, she'd had this conversation before with other kids.**

**"Your father's not dead, Percy."**

**"How can you say that? You know him?"**

**"No, of course not."**

**"Then how can you say—"**

**"Because I know you. You wouldn't be here if you weren't one of us."**

**"You don't know anything about me."**

**"No?" She raised an eyebrow. "I bet you moved around from school to school. I bet you were kicked out of a lot of them."**

**"How—"**

**"Diagnosed with dyslexia. Probably ADHD, too."**

Apollo snickered. "Harsh."

"Boys won't like her like that." Hermes said.

"She can join my Hunters anytime." Artemis interjected.

**I tried to swallow my embarrassment. "What does that have to do with anything?"**

**"Taken together, it's almost a sure sign. The letters float off the page when you read, right? That's because your mind is hardwired for ancient Greek. And the ADHD—you're impulsive, can't sit still in the classroom. That's your battle field reflexes. In a real fight, they'd keep you alive. As for the attention problems, that's because you see too much, Percy, not too little. Your senses are better than a regular mortal's. Of course the teachers want you medicated. Most of them are monsters. They don't want you seeing them for what they are."**

**"You sound like ... you went through the same thing?"**

"Everyone demi-god do." Athena said.

**"Most of the kids here did. If you weren't like us, you couldn't have survived the Minotaur, much less the ambrosia and nectar."**

**"Ambrosia and nectar."**

"She must have been so confused." Aprohdite said sympathetically.

**"The food and drink we were giving you to make you better. That stuff would've killed a normal kid.**

Dionysus chuckled happily, as if it was something he wanted to happen. Knowing him, mayhap.

**It would've turned your blood to fire and your bones to sand and you'd be dead. Face it. You're a half-blood."**

**A half-blood.**

**I was reeling with so many questions I didn't know where to start.**

**Then a husky voice yelled, "Well! A newbie!"**

**I looked over. The big girl from the ugly red cabin**

Ares growled while the rest of the council laughed.

**was sauntering toward us. She had three other girls behind her, all big and ugly and mean looking like her, all wearing camo jackets.**

"Those are my kids you're insulting sea brat." Ares grumbled.

**"Clarisse," Annabeth sighed. "Why don't you go polish your spear or something?"**

**"Sure, Miss Princess," the big girl said. "So I can run you through with it Friday night."**

**''_Erre es korakas_!" Annabeth said, which I somehow under stood was Greek for 'Go to the crows!' though I had a feeling it was a worse curse than it sounded.**

"It is." Hermes said smiling.

**"You don't stand a chance."**

**"We'll pulverize you," Clarisse said, but her eye twitched. Perhaps she wasn't sure she could follow through on the threat.**

"She definitely could!" Ares roared.

**She turned toward me. "Who's this little runt?"**

**"Percy Jackson," Annabeth said, "meet Clarisse, Daughter of Ares."**

**I blinked. "Like ... the war god?"**

Ares sneered. "You got a problem with that?"

**Clarisse sneered. "You got a problem with that?"**

Many chuckled. Poseidon said, "And you say me and my daughter are the same. What about you?"

Ares growled.

**"No," I said, recovering my wits. "It explains the bad smell."**

"Why that little-" Ares snarled.

"Enough." Hera held up her hand for silence. "I will have no such coarse language here and now."

Ares shut up and sat down hurriedly.

**Clarisse growled. "We got an initiation ceremony for newbies, Prissy."**

**"Percy."**

**"Whatever. Come on, I'll show you."**

**"Clarisse—" Annabeth tried to say.**

**"Stay out of it, wise girl."**

**Annabeth looked pained, **

"I thought she didn't care." Hades remarked.

"She doesn't," Athena hissed. "She just doesn't want to be held responsible if anything happens to the sea spawn."

**but she did stay out of it, and I didn't really want her help. I was the new kid. I had to earn my own rep.**

**I handed Annabeth my Minotaur horn and got ready to fight, but before I knew it, Clarisse had me by the neck and was dragging me toward a cinder-block building that I knew immediately was the bathroom.**

**I was kicking and punching. I'd been in plenty of fights before, but this big girl Clarisse had hands like iron.**

Ares smiled proudly. "Take that, punk."

**She dragged me into the girls' bathroom. There was a line of toilets on one side and a line of shower stalls down the other. It smelled just like any public bathroom, and I was thinking—as much as I could think with Clarisse ripping my hair out—that if this place belonged to the gods, they should've been able to afford classier johns.**

Snickers and chuckled rang around the room. "We definitely can afford that." Artemis smiled.

**Clarisse's friends were all laughing, and I was trying to find the strength I'd used to fight the Minotaur, but it just wasn't there.**

**"Like he's 'Big Three' material," Clarisse said as she pushed me toward one of the toilets. "Yeah, right. Minotaur probably fell over laughing, he was so stupid looking."**

**Her friends snickered.**

**Annabeth stood in the corner, watching through her fingers.**

**Clarisse bent me over on my knees and started pushing my head toward the toilet bowl. It reeked like rusted pipes and, well, like what goes into toilets.**

**I strained to keep my head up. I was looking at the scummy water, thinking, I will not go into that. I won't.**

**Then something happened. I felt a tug in the pit of my stomach.**

"Go get em', girl." Poseidon muttered under his breath, making sure no one can hear him.

**I heard the plumbing rumble, the pipes shudder. Clarisse's grip on my hair loosened. Water shot out of the toilet, making an arc straight over my head, and the next thing I knew, I was sprawled on the bathroom tiles with Clarisse screaming behind me.**

"# $%!" Ares yelled. "What happened!"

"Ares!" Hera screamed. "I said no such language here!"

Ares reluctantly sat down.

**I turned just as water blasted out of the toilet again, hitting Clarisse straight in the face so hard it pushed her down onto her butt.**

Ares barely managed to refrain himself from cursing.

**The water stayed on her like the spray from a fire hose, pushing her backward into a shower stall.**

**She struggled, gasping, and her friends started coming toward her.**

**But then the other toilets exploded, too, and six more streams of toilet water blasted them back. The showers acted up, too, and together all the fixtures sprayed the camouflage girls right out of the bathroom, spinning them around like pieces of garbage being washed away.**

**As soon as they were out the door, I felt the tug in my gut lessen, and the water shut off as quickly as it had started. The entire bathroom was flooded. Annabeth hadn't been spared.**

Athena huffed at this.

**She was dripping wet, but she hadn't been pushed out the door. She was standing in exactly the same place, staring at me in shock.**

**I looked down and realized I was sitting in the only dry spot in the whole room. There was a circle of dry floor around me. I didn't have one drop of water on my clothes. Nothing.**

**I stood up, my legs shaky.**

**Annabeth said, "How did you ..."**

**"I don't know."**

**We walked to the door. Outside, Clarisse and her friends were sprawled in the mud, and a bunch of other campers had gathered around to gawk. Clarisse's hair was flattened across her face. Her camouflage jacket was sopping and she smelled like sewage.**

**She gave me a look of absolute hatred. "You are dead, new boy. You are totally dead."**

"Get her, daughter!" Ares yelled, though Clarisse can't hear him.

**I probably should have let it go, but I said, "You want to gargle with toilet water again, Clarisse? Close your mouth."**

Poseidon chuckled happily, a few other were outright laughing. Ares fumed angrily. At least some of the goddesses had the decency to not laugh.

**Her friends had to hold her back. They dragged her toward cabin five, while the other campers made way to avoid her flailing feet.**

**Annabeth stared at me. I couldn't tell whether she was just grossed out or angry at me for dousing her.**

**"What?" I demanded. "What are you thinking?"**

**"I'm thinking," she said, "that I want you on my team for capture the flag."**

* * *

_A/N: Sorry for the late update. Hope you liked this chapter! I sure did! Reviews make for faster updates!_

_P.S, vote for who should be Kronos' minion. Percy, Luke or Annabeth? For more info, go to my profile's vote. _


	7. Chapter 7

**Genre:** Romance/Family

**Rated: **T

**Pairing(s):** Fem!Percy/Luke

**Summary:** AU. Percy and Luke make a good couple in my opinion. So I tweaked it a little because M/M isn't something I'm very good at writing. Percy's personality will be the same. What would happen if the gods read the books before they knew of Percy?

**Setting**: This starts on the day after Thalia is turned into her tree. So the ages are as below:

Percy: 7

Luke: 14

Annabeth: 7

**Disclaimer:** I do not own **Percy Jackson and the Olympians**

**Warning(s):** AU(Seeing as Percy's female) Obviously there will be spoilers to the books. Also I'm sorry if there are any grammar or spelling mistakes, please forgive me!

* * *

Chapter 7: MY DINNER GOES UP IN SMOKE

* * *

Hermes pouted as the book was shoved into his lap. "But I want to go now." He whined like a little kid.

Zeus rolled his eyes. "You can do that later, now come on, read it."

"If I didn't know any better," Poseidon grumbled. "I would say you're very interested in my daughter's life."

Predictably, Zeus snorted in dibelief. Part of him admitted that he was, maybe, slightly interested in his niece's life. He had never had a niece before, one sired by Poseidon. This was the first time Poseidon had a daughter and everyone was intriguied. Can't wait to meet her even. Sons of Poseidon were good looking, which leads them to the question: Is the daughter of Poseidon was as beautiful as they were handsome?

**Word of the bathroom incident spread immediately.**

"Its camp, of course the news is going to spread fast." Dionysus said rolling his eyes. "And I bet it was children of Hermes that spread those news."

Hermes smiled proudly.

**Wherever I went, campers pointed at me and murmured something about toilet water. Or maybe they were just staring at Annabeth, who was still pretty much dripping wet.**

Athena huffed.

**She showed me a few more places: the metal shop (where kids were forging their own swords), the arts-and-crafts room (where satyrs were sandblasting a giant marble statue of a goat-man),**

"Always Pan." Hera muttered.

"Is there a problem about it?" Hermes asked sweetly.

"No," Hera shifted uncomfortably.

**and the climbing wall, which actually consisted of two facing walls that shook violently, dropped boulders, sprayed lava, and clashed together if you didn't get to the top fast enough.**

**Finally we returned to the canoeing lake, where the trail led back to the cabins.**

**"I've got training to do," Annabeth said flatly. "Dinner's at seven-thirty. Just follow your cabin to the mess hall."**

**"Annabeth, I'm sorry about the toilets."**

"As you _should_ be." Athena stated hotly.

**"Whatever."**

**"It wasn't my fault."**

"Um, yes it _was_." Apollo said rolling his eyes.

**She looked at me skeptically, and I realized it **_**was **_**my fault. I'd made water shoot out of the bathroom fixtures. I didn't understand how. But the toilets had responded to me. I had become one with the plumbing.**

Snickers were heard across the throne room of Olympus.

"Her thoughts are so funny," Hermes wheezed.

Athena rolled her eyes. "I expect no less from a child of Poseidon."

"Is that a power you have too, Uncle?" Apollo asked barely being able to keep a straight face.

"Shut up." Poseidon replied but he was smiling and laughing as well.

**"You need to talk to the Oracle," Annabeth said.**

"Ah, my precious Oracle will be in the story." Apollo seemed very happy about this. "I wonder whether or not she will switch bodies."

Hades winced.

**"Who?"**

**"Not who. What.** **The Oracle. I'll ask Chiron."**

"Chiron isn't in charge of the Oracle..." Apollo mumbled. "I am..."

"But you're not there," Hades rolled his eyes. "How can they ask you for permission?"

"Good point," Demeter agreed.

"I never thought the day would come where you two agreed on anything." Ares remarked casually, snickering when Hades and Demeter threw each other dirty looks.

**I stared into the lake, wishing somebody would give me a straight answer for once.**

"Is it instinctive?" Aphrodite asked curiously.

"Most likely." Zeus answered for Poseidon.

"How cute," Demeter stated. "I wonder why Chiron didn't say anything about this already."

"Maybe he has doubts." Dionysus shrugged uncaringly.

"But her looks screamed her relation to Uncle P." Artemis said.

"Have you actually ever met her?" Hera challenged.

"Sea-green eyes and dark hair is a sure sign, dear step-mother." Apollo defended his sister.

Hermes coughed and continued reading lest another argument started.

**I wasn't expecting anybody to be looking back at me from the bottom, so my heart skipped a beat when I noticed two teenage girls sitting cross-legged at the base of the pier, about twenty feet below.**

**They wore blue jeans and shimmering green T-shirts, and their brown hair floated loose around their shoulders as minnows darted in and out. They smiled and waved as if I were a long-lost friend.**

"Yes, in some form, you are a long lost friend of theirs." Hestia said.

**I didn't know what else to do. I waved back.**

**"Don't encourage them," Annabeth warned. "Naiads are terrible flirts."**

"If I didn't know better, I'll say she's jealous." Ares muttered.

"She won't be for the daughter of Poseidon." Athena snapped.

**"Naiads," I repeated, feeling completely overwhelmed. "That's it. I want to go home now."**

"And there is her breaking point." Dionysus said happily.

"Why do you sound so happy?" Hera asked, irritated.

"Because the kid's suffering." Was her step-son's simple reply.

"Do you have something against my daughter?" Poseidon asked.

"Against all the demi-gods he does," Hermes corrected.

**Annabeth frowned. "Don't you get it, Percy? You are home. This is the only safe place on earth for kids like us."**

**"You mean, mentally disturbed kids?"**

**"I mean not human. Not totally human, anyway. Half-human."**

**"Half-human and half-what?"**

"How can she not know?" Artemis asked, tone incredulous.

"She's in denial." Hades answered.

"Why?" Hera asked.

"Put yourself in her position for once," Poseidon replied. "It must be so surreal to her."

A few nodded in agreement.

**"I think you know."**

**I didn't want to admit it, but I was afraid I did. I felt a tingling in my limbs, a sensation I sometimes felt when my mom talked about my dad.**

Poseidon smiled.

**"God," I said. "Half-god."**

**Annabeth nodded. "Your father isn't dead, Percy. He's one of the Olympians."**

"And one of the Big Three." Apollo nodded sagely.

**"That's ... crazy."**

**"Is it? What's the most common thing gods did in the old stories? They ran around falling in love with humans**

"Fall in love?" Hera spat venomously.

"Well, yes," Apollo replied nervously. "I love all my mortal lovers."

"Same here," Poseidon and Hermes agreed. Ares, Athena, Hephaeastus, Aphrodite and Demeter nodded. Dionysus and Hades didn't say anything but they silently agreed. Hera looked pointedly at Zeus, daring him to admit it. He looked away guiltily, and said nothing but he agreed with Apollo as well.

**and having kids with them. Do you think they've changed their habits in the last few millennia?"**

"No." was the chorus of all the deities. They admitted it without shame.

**"But those are just—" I almost said **_**myths **_**again. Then I remembered Chiron's warning that in two thousand years, **_**I **_**might be considered a myth.**

**"But if all the kids here are half-gods—"**

**"Demigods," Annabeth said. "That's the official term. Or half-bloods."**

**"Then who's your dad?"**

Laughter came from the males in the room and Athena seethed, Aphrodite and Demeter looked annoyed.

**Her hands tightened around the pier railing. I got the feeling I'd just trespassed on a sensitive subject.**

**"My dad is a professor at West Point," she said. "I haven't seen him since I was very small. He teaches American history."**

**"He's human."**

"_Yes_." Athena said venomously.

**"What? You assume it has to be a male god who finds a human female attractive? How sexist is that?"**

"Styx, woman. She just assumed it was a male, probably because _her_ godly parent is a male." Hephaestus grumbled.

"How can she be a sexist when she's of the same gender?" Demeter wondered.

Hestia smile was slightly stiff as she said, "She's just...narrow-minded."

**"Who's your mom, then?"**

**"Cabin six."**

**"Meaning?"**

**Annabeth straightened. "Athena. Goddess of wisdom and battle."**

"She seems _so_ proud of that." Poseidon rolled his eyes. "Wonder why?"

"There's absolutely nothing proud being your child at all." Athena retorted.

**Okay, I thought. Why not?**

**"And my dad?"**

**"Undetermined," Annabeth said, "like I told you before. Nobody knows."**

**"Except my mother. She knew."**

**"Maybe not, Percy. Gods don't always reveal their identities."**

"Sally can see through the Mist." Poseidon rolled his eyes. "I can't fool her."

"Most of our lovers can see through the Mist." Hermes stated helpfully.

**"My dad would have. He loved her."**

"So it would seem." Athena muttered bitterly.

If Aphrodite didn't know better, she would say Athena sound jealous. But that's impossible...right?

**Annabeth gave me a cautious look. She didn't want to burst my bubble.**

**"Maybe you're right. Maybe he'll send a sign. That's the only way to know for sure: your father has to send you a sign claiming you as his son. Sometimes it happens."**

**"You mean sometimes it doesn't?"**

**Annabeth ran her palm along the rail. "The gods are busy. They have a lot of kids and they don't always ... Well, sometimes they don't care about us, Percy. They ignore us."**

The gods of Olympus winced. "We _do_ care." Hermes muttered.

"We just didn't have the time." Demeter added.

"And because of some stupid rules." Hades added.

"Enough!" Zeus snapped. "Read on, Hermes."

**I thought about some of the kids I'd seen in the Hermes cabin, teenagers who looked sullen and depressed, as if they were waiting for a call that would never come. I'd known kids like that at Yancy Academy, shuffled off to boarding school by rich parents who didn't have the time to deal with them. But gods should behave better.**

The council but Hera, Artemis, Apollo and Dionysus coughed awkwardly. The reason why they did not feel bad was because: Hera didn't care; Artemis has no demi-god children; Apollo visits his children before sunrise and during sunset; Dionysus was camp counselor, thus can spent as much time as he wanted with his twin sons.

**"So I'm stuck here," I said. "That's it? For the rest of my life?"**

**"It depends," Annabeth said. "Some campers only stay the summer. If you're a child of Aphrodite or Demeter,** **you're probably not a real powerful force.**

Indignant squawks came from Demeter and Aphrodite who were both thoroughly insulted. The others snickered ta their expense but said nothing.

**The monsters might ignore you, so you can get by with a few months of summer training and live in the mortal world the rest of the year. But for some of us, it's too dangerous to leave. We're year-rounders. In the mortal world, we attract monsters. They sense us. They come to challenge us. Most of the time, they'll ignore us until we're old enough to cause trouble—about ten or eleven years old, but after that, most demigods either make their way here, or they get killed off. A few manage to survive in the outside world and become famous. Believe me, if I told you the names, you'd know them. Some don't even realize they're demigods. But very, very few are like that."**

**"So monsters can't get in here?"**

**Annabeth shook her head. "Not unless they're intentionally stocked in the woods or specially summoned by somebody on the inside."**

**"Why would anybody want to summon a monster?"**

**"Practice fights. Practical jokes."**

**"Practical jokes?"**

**"The point is, the borders are sealed to keep mortals and monsters out. From the outside, mortals look into the valley and see nothing unusual, just a strawberry farm."**

**"So ... you're a year-rounder?"**

**Annabeth nodded. From under the collar of her T-shirt she pulled a leather necklace with five clay beads of different colors. It was just like Luke's, except Annabeth's also had a big gold ring strung on it, like a college ring.**

Athena's eyes widened.

**"I've been here since I was seven," she said. "Every August, on the last day of summer session, you get a bead for surviving another year. I've been here longer than most of the counselors, and they're all in college."**

**"Why did you come so young?"**

**She twisted the ring on her necklace. "None of your business."**

"Like mother," Hades sneered. "like daughter."

Athena huffed. "Good, she shouldn't be getting close to that sea spawn anyway."

**"Oh." I stood there for a minute in uncomfortable silence. "So ... I could just walk out of here right now if I wanted to?"**

"Oh, please do." Dionysus cheered. "It would be suicide, and then I wouldn't have to deal with you." he smiled. That was until he felt more than saw the glare Poseidon gave him, it wiped the smile off his face.

**"It would be suicide, but you could, with Mr. D's or Chiron's permission. But they wouldn't give permission until the end of the summer session unless ..."**

**"Unless?"**

**"You were granted a quest. But that hardly ever happens. The last time …"**

**Her voice trailed off. I could tell from her tone that the last time hadn't gone well.**

**"Back in the sick room," I said, "when you were feeding me that stuff—"**

**"Ambrosia."**

**"Yeah. You asked me something about the summer solstice."**

**Annabeth's shoulders tensed. "So you **_**do **_**know some thing?"**

"I doubt a child of yours would know much." Athena said to Poseidon who glared at her in response.

**"Well... no. Back at my old school, I overheard Grover and Chiron talking about it. Grover mentioned the summer solstice. He said something like we didn't have much time, because of the deadline. What did that mean?"**

**She clenched her fists.**

**"I wish I knew. Chiron and the satyrs, they know, but they won't tell me. Something is wrong in Olympus, something pretty major. Last time I was there, everything seemed so **_**normal**_**."**

"She came here?" Athena looked very please at this information, knowing that she would have seen her daughter.

**"You've been to Olympus?"**

**"Some of us year-rounders—Luke and Clarisse and I and a few others—we took a field trip during winter solstice. That's when the gods have their big annual council."**

**"But... how did you get there?"**

**"The Long Island Railroad, of course. You get off at Penn Station. Empire State Building, special elevator to the six hundredth floor." She looked at me like she was sure I must know this already.**

"Aren't children of Athena suppose to be, oh, I don't know, _smart_? Doesn't she realize that she's new to all this?" Poseidon asked, tone laced with sarcasm.

**"You **_**are **_**a New Yorker, right?"**

**"Oh, sure." As far as I knew, there were only a hundred and two floors in the Empire State Building, but I decided not to point that out.**

**"Right after we visited," Annabeth continued, "the weather got weird, as if the gods had started fighting. A couple of times since, I've overheard satyrs talking. The best I can figure out is that something important was stolen.**

As always, Athena was the first to realize what has happened. "The Lightning Thief." She stated. "It was stolen." She added after receiving blank looks from her family.

Zeus turned to glare at his brother. "Your daughter stole-"

"She's just found out about herself and you're expecting her to know all this?!" Poseidon cut in.

"Wait!" Athena snapped. "We will find out soon enough! So don't argue!"

**And if it isn't returned by summer solstice, there's going to be trouble. When you came, I was hoping ... I mean— Athena can get along with just about anybody, except for Ares. And of course she's got the rivalry with Poseidon.**

**But, I mean, aside from that, I thought we could work together. I thought you might know something."**

"She doesn't." Athena interjected sourly.

**I shook my head. I wished I could help her, but I felt too hungry and tired and mentally overloaded to ask any more questions.**

"Finally, it was getting boring." Ares stated.

**"I've got to get a quest," Annabeth muttered to her self. "I'm **_**not **_**too young. If they would just tell me the problem …"**

**I could smell barbecue smoke coming from somewhere nearby. Annabeth must've heard my stomach growl. She told me to go on, she'd catch me later.**

**I left her on the pier, tracing her finger across the rail as if drawing a battle plan.**

The gods chuckled at this likely possibility.

**Back at cabin eleven, everybody was talking and horsing around, waiting for dinner. For the first time, I noticed that a lot of the campers had similar features: sharp noses, upturned eyebrows, mischievous smiles.**

**They were the kind of kids that teachers would peg as troublemakers.**

"_That's_ because they _are_ troublemakers" Demeter mumbled.

**Thankfully, nobody paid much attention to me as I walked over to my spot on the floor and plopped down with my Minotaur horn.**

**The counselor, Luke, came over. He had the Hermes family resemblance, too. It was marred by that scar on his right cheek, but his smile was intact.**

Hermes smiled proudly at the mention of his favorite son.

**"Found you a sleeping bag," he said. "And here, I stole you some toiletries from the camp store."**

**I couldn't tell if he was kidding about the stealing part.**

"He's not." All the gods stated.

**I said, "Thanks."**

**"No prob." Luke sat next to me, and pushed his back against the wall. He looked curiously at me, as if awaiting my reaction. **

Aphrodite leaned forward in anticipation as to what would happen.

**Cautiously, I peered into the bag, half anticipating for a frog to leap out. There were daily needs in there but they were for females. I blinked.**

**"You **_**are**_** a girl right?" Luke asked for confirmation but he really didn't need to.**

"**How did you know?" I groaned. And I thought my disguise was perfect too.**

**He laughed lightly and I could practically feel butterflies fluttering in my stomach when I saw how his eyes sparkle when he laughed and how it suited his handsome features.**

Aphrodite squealed so loud that she shattered the glasses in the room. Artemis sighed, not dreamily but a resigned sigh.

"Continue!" Poseidon barked. He wasn't too pleased either.

"**You don't walk like a boy and you don't smell like one either." Luke replied as he shifted closer than comfortable distance.**

Aphrodite looked absolutely giddy. Poseidon looked ready to blast something to bits.

Hera rolled her eyes. "If this is how you react to them being in close proximity, how are you going to react if they kissed?"

Poseidon made a sound as if someone had shove their fist down his throat. Zeus and Hades snickered at his expense.

"_**Smell**_**?" My eyebrows rose. "You smelled me?" I brought my arm to my nose and sniffed. I don't smell anything, so how did he? And also... **

**I narrowed my eyes. "How did you smell me when I don't remember getting **_**that close**_** to **_**you**_**?"**

"Good point." Athena said. "She does have observation skills."

Poseidon growled low in his throat. "If your son..."

"He hasn't done anything yet." Hermes said hastily.

"Yet." Artemis added unhelpfully.

"You're not helping at all, sis." Apollo groaned.

"Don't call me 'sis'!"

**"Tough first day?" Luke changed the subject. Actually, he acted as if I hadn't ask him anything. Sneaky bastard.**

**"I don't belong here," I said. "I don't even believe in gods."**

**Luke blinked. He seemed surprised by the amount of bitterness in my voice. "Yeah," he said. "That's how we all started. Once you start believing in them? It doesn't get any easier."**

Unfortunately this was true and all the gods looked saddened.

**"So your dad is Hermes?" I asked.**

**He pulled a switchblade out of his back pocket, and for a second I thought he was going to gut me, **

"He wouldn't do that!" Hermes protested, aghast that someone would expect that of his son. Especially when they were the same kind of people.

"Yeah!" Aphrodite agreed. "He wouldn't gut someone he likes!"

"Ahem." Hestia coughed. "That's not the point."

**but he just scraped the mud off the sole of his sandal. "Yeah. Hermes."**

Hermes sighed. "I kinda hoped that Percy would have describe how he sounded."

"Too bad she didn't," Hades said with a careless shrug.

**"The wing-footed messenger guy."**

**"That's him. Messengers. Medicine. Travelers, merchants, thieves. Anybody who uses the roads. That's why you're here, enjoying cabin eleven's hospitality. Hermes isn't picky about who he sponsors." He threw me a cheeky grin. "But I don't think he'll mind sponsoring you."**

"Hey, now." Hermes grumbled. He snapped his mouth shut when Poseidon turned to _look_ at him.

**I blushed at the implication.**

**"You ever meet your dad?" I asked, this time being the one to change the subject.**

**"Once."**

**I waited, thinking that if he wanted to tell me, he'd tell me. Apparently, he didn't. I wondered if the story had any thing to do with how he got his scar.**

"_Excuse me_?!" Hermes yelled. "I wouldn't hurt my children!"

"Especially not your favorite son." Apollo added.

"Right." Hermes agreed.

**Luke looked up and managed a smile. "Don't worry about it, Percy. The campers here, they're mostly good people. After all, we're extended family, right? We take care of each other."**

The council of Olympus began to relax, they have had enough bashing for one chapter, right?

**He seemed to understand how lost I felt, and I was grateful for that, because an older guy like him—even if he was a counselor—should've steered clear of an uncool middle-schooler like me. But Luke had welcomed me into the cabin. He'd even stolen me some toiletries, which was the nicest thing anybody had done for me all day.**

Aphrodite giggled. "And he will do so much more for you."

"Shut up." Poseidon groaned. His imaginations were running wild as it is and he did not need Aphrodite's help to make things worse.

**I decided to ask him my last big question, the one that had been bothering me all afternoon. "Clarisse, from Ares, was joking about me being 'Big Three' material. Then Annabeth ... twice, she said I might be 'the one.' She said I should talk to the Oracle. What was that all about?"**

**Luke folded his knife. "I hate prophecies."**

"Indirectly," Apollo said sadly. "You hate me."

**"What do you mean?"**

**His face twitched around the scar. "Let's just say I messed things up for everybody else. The last two years, ever since my trip to the Garden of the Hesperides went sour, **

"That must be where he got his scar." Athena mused out loud.

"That Ladon..." Hermes sighed. "Seriously, why did he go alone?"

"Prophecy." Hestia replied.

Zeus smirked. "My son managed to get an apple."

"Because he had help from Zoe Nightshade," Artemis spat. "And don't get me started on how he repay her kindness."

Zeus winced.

**Chiron hasn't allowed any more quests. Annabeth's been dying to get out into the world. She pestered Chiron so much he finally told her he already knew her fate. He'd had a prophecy from the Oracle. He wouldn't tell her the whole thing, but he said Annabeth wasn't destined to go on a quest yet. She had to wait until...somebody special came to the camp."**

**"Somebody special?"**

**"Don't worry about it, Percy," Luke said. "Annabeth wants to think every new camper who comes through here is the omen she's been waiting for. Now, come on, it's dinnertime."**

**"How about we eat after we finish this chapter?" Hera suggested. The others nodded in agreement.**

**The moment he said it, a horn blew in the distance. Somehow, I knew it was a conch shell, even though I'd never heard one before.**

**Luke yelled, "Eleven, fall in!"**

**The whole cabin, about twenty of us, filed into the commons yard. We lined up in order of seniority, so of course I was dead last. Campers came from the other cabins, too, except for the three empty cabins at the end, and cabin eight, which had looked normal in the daytime, but was now starting to glow silver as the sun went down.**

"My cabin." Artemis said sweetly.

Hera rolled her eyes. "As if we didn't know that."

Everyone ignored her in favor for Hermes' reading.

**We marched up the hill to the mess hall pavilion. Satyrs joined us from the meadow. Naiads emerged from the canoeing lake. A few other girls came out of the woods—and when I say out of the woods, I mean **_**straight **_**out of the woods. I saw one girl, about nine or ten years old, melt from the side of a maple tree and come skipping up the hill.**

**In all, there were maybe a hundred campers, a few dozen satyrs, and a dozen assorted wood nymphs and naiads.**

**At the pavilion, torches blazed around the marble columns. A central fire burned in a bronze brazier the size of a bathtub. Each cabin had its own table, covered in white cloth trimmed in purple. Four of the tables were empty, but cabin eleven's was way overcrowded. I had to squeeze on to the edge of a bench with half my butt hanging off. It was sorely uncomfortable and there's one boy that has nowhere to sit at all.**

The council winced in pity, wondering who's son it was.

Hermes frowned, his cabin wasn't built to hold that many people. He really _did_ need to go and and make a few adjustments. "I wonder why no one sent a complain?"

"Like you would have the time to go and check up on them even if you did." Hera snorted.

"I would try to find the time." Hermes argued. "They're mine and your children."

"Right, right." Hestia said. "Let's not argue about that."

**I pitied him even though I didn't know him. He has glossy black hair and dark eyes, definitely not a son of Hermes. Seeing me looking at the boy, Luke said, "He's Ethan Nakamura."**

"**He doesn't have anywhere to sit." I said back. "How's he going to eat?"**

"Your daughter has a kind heart, brother." Hestia smiled.

"**When everyone finish eating, I suppose." Luke shrugged as if he didn't care. But he was frowning in disapproval.**

**I couldn't believe I'm going do this, for a boy that didn't even know.**

"What's she going to do?" Demeter wondered.

"We'll know soon once Hermes reads." Artemis replied

"She has a crush?" Poseidon demanded of Aphrodite.

Aphrodite smiled mysteriously. "Yes, but I doubt it will last." Then a cheeky grin. "This will only serve to make things more interesting!" She winked. "Imagine this: Annabeth likes Luke, who likes Percy, who likes Ethan, who likes Annabeth!"

"Its going to be a never-ending cycle then." Zeus muttered. "It sounds...ridiculous. Neither of them will ever get the person they want then."

"Agreed." Hades said. "Its stupid."

Aphrodite glared at them. "Things will work out! Just you wait."

She sounds so determined that Poseidon wasn't sure he could entrust his daughter's love life to her. Not that he want his daughter to have one.

**I coughed awkwardly. "Move over, Luke." He raised an eyebrow my way but he moved to the side to make space anyway.**

**He looked up and immediately got what I was trying to do. The both of us shifted as best as we could to make space for Ethan. Ethan had very little space to sit on in the end but it was better than having no place to sit. I, on the other hand was half-sitting on Luke's lap and was sandwiched between the two boys.**

"**Thanks." Ethan murmured quietly.**

**Those words fell on deaf ears as blood rushed to my face when I could feel Luke's breath ghosting over my cheek. I distracted myself by looking around, hoping that Luke didn't notice my odd behavior.**

"A development!" Aphrodite screeched. Hephaestus was sure that he needed to make a new ear for himself, she was screaming in his right ear.

Poseidon looked like he wanted to throttle something.

**I saw Grover sitting at table twelve with Mr. D, a few satyrs, and a couple of plump blond boys who looked just like Mr. D.**

**Chiron stood to one side, the picnic table being way too small for a centaur.**

Artemis blinked. "Then how will he feast?"

"He'll find a way, sis." Apollo replied.

Artemis glared at him.

**Annabeth sat at table six with a bunch of serious-looking athletic kids, all with her gray eyes and honey-blond hair.**

Athena smiled at the mention of her children.

**Clarisse sat behind me at Ares's table. She'd apparently gotten over being hosed down, because she was laughing and belching right alongside her friends.**

Ares smirked smugly. "Nothing can hold them down. Especially Clarisse."

"She's your favorite child?" Hades asked.

"Hmph." Ares crossed his arms. "Figure it out yourself."

"You shouldn't show such blatant favoritism." Hera reprimanded her son.

It was a ridiculous statement. All of them have their favorites. Zeus has Heracles and Thalia. Hades has Bianca. Poseidon has Percy. Apollo's favored children were Lee and Micheal. Demeter has Katie. Hermes has Luke and the Stoll brothers. Hephaestus favorite is Beckendorf; Aphrodite adored Silena. Even Athena is no exception, Annabeth was hers. Dionysus never showed it much, but he cared deeply for his twin sons. Artemis' most faithful companion is Zoe and she always defended her.

Hestia watched them with something akin to envy. She was a virgin goddess just like Artemis and Athena so she didn't have any demi-god children. But Artemis adopted girls, namely her Hunters as her daughters. Athena can have children without losing her virginity. She wished she had a demi-god child too. She sighed sadly.

No one said anything.

**Finally, Chiron pounded his hoof against the marble floor of the pavilion, and everybody fell silent. He raised a glass. "To the gods!"**

**Everybody else raised their glasses. "To the gods!"**

**Wood nymphs came forward with platters of food: grapes, apples, strawberries, cheese, fresh bread, and yes, barbecue! My glass was empty, but Luke leaned toward me and said, "Speak to it. Whatever you want—nonalcoholic, of course."**

**I said, "Cherry Coke."**

**The glass filled with sparkling caramel liquid, my favorite soft drink.**

"My favorite soft drink." Poseidon mused out loud, smirking at coincidence.

**Then I had an idea. "**_**Blue **_**Cherry Coke."**

**The soda turned a violent shade of cobalt.**

**I took a cautious sip. Perfect.**

**I drank a toast to my mother.**

Poseidon, Hera and Demeter smiled sadly.

**She's not gone, I told myself. Not permanently, anyway. She's in the Underworld. And if that's a real place, then someday...**

**"Here you go, Percy," Luke said, handing me a platter of smoked brisket. Ethan said nothing but he shoved one onto my plate as well.**

**They gave me so much that I didn't even need to load it myself. I was about to take a big bite when I noticed everybody getting up, carrying their plates toward the fire in the center of the pavilion.**

**I wondered if they were going for dessert or something.**

"Your daughter is such an—" Athena started but was cut off by Poseidon

"She doesn't know our ways yet, Athena, she is still _learning_." Poseidon finished

**"Come on," Luke told me.** **And as we continued our walk, I couldn't help but notice he had tugged me up to walk next to him, our arms brushing every time we took a step.**

**I also couldn't stop the blood from rushing up to my cheeks when his hand somehow slipped to hold mine. There was no need to, why did he do that?**

**As I got closer, I saw that everyone was taking a portion of their meal and dropping it into the fire, the ripest straw berry, the juiciest slice of beef, the warmest, most buttery roll.**

**Luke murmured in my ear, "Burnt offerings for the gods. They like the smell."**

**"You're kidding."**

**His look warned me not to take this lightly, but I couldn't help wondering why an immortal, all-powerful being would like the smell of burning food.**

"Why not?" Apollo asked.

"To mortals, burnt food smell disgusting. The fire they use are different from our magic-fueled fire." Athena explained patiently.

**Luke approached the fire, bowed his head, and tossed in a cluster of fat red grapes. "Hermes."**

Hermes smiled.

**I was next.**

**I wished I knew what god's name to say.**

"Poseidon." The council chorused, Poseidon playfully pouted at missing out on an offering. It was too bad. He wondered why his future self didn't claim his daughter the moment she straggled through the border.

**Finally, I made a silent plea. **_**Whoever you are, tell me. Please.**_

Poseidon frowned. He wished he could claim her right there and then. Why did his future-self hesitate or wait so long? Now was his chance, to let everyone know who she is and not to mess with her.

**I scraped a big slice of brisket into the flames.**

**When I caught a whiff of the smoke, I didn't gag.**

**It smelled nothing like burning food. It smelled of hot chocolate and fresh-baked brownies, hamburgers on the grill and wildflowers, and a hundred other good things that shouldn't have gone well together, but did. I could almost believe the gods could live off that smoke.**

A collective growl resounded around the room. Artemis stared in disgust at Hermes, Apollo and Ares who's stomach all growled loudly at the thought of food.

"When can we start eating?" Ares whined.

"All this food description is making me hungry." Apollo whinged.

"Soon." Hermes said hopefully. "The chapter's not much longer."

"Yes, after this, we'll have lunch." Zeus agreed.

**When everybody had returned to their seats and finished eating their meals, Chiron pounded his hoof again for our attention.**

**Mr. D got up with a huge sigh.**

"Oh, _this_ should be _good_." Hermes stated already chuckling.

**"Yes, I suppose I'd better say hello to all you brats. Well, hello. Our activities director, Chiron, says the next capture the flag is Friday. Cabin five presently holds the laurels."**

"Oh yeah!" Ares yelled happily. "Take that!"

**A bunch of ugly cheering rose from the Ares table.**

**"Personally," Mr. D continued, "I couldn't care less, but congratulations. Also, I should tell you that we have a new camper today. Boy or girl, you decide. Pierce Johnson."**

**I tried to ignore the stares of quite a few that puzzled over whether I was a girl or boy. Some kids from the Aphrodite table was eyeing me almost hungrily. I had the sudden urge to duck in front of Luke to hide.**

Aphrodite cooed. "She's already looking towards Luke for protection."

**Chiron murmured something.**

**"Er, Percy Jackson," Mr. D corrected. "That's right. Hurrah, and all that. Now run along to your silly campfire. Go on."**

**Everybody cheered. We all headed down toward the amphitheater, where Apollo's cabin led a sing-along. **

"Naturally." The sun god stated happily. His children was born for that.

**We sang camp songs about the gods and ate s'mores and joked around, and the funny thing was, I didn't feel that anyone was staring at me anymore. Sitting between Ethan and Luke again should make me feel shy but no, strangely I felt that I was home instead.**

Poseidon smiled at this, glad his daughter was enjoying herself.

**Later in the evening, when the sparks from the campfire were curling into a starry sky, the conch horn blew again, and we all filed back to our cabins. I didn't realize how exhausted I was until I collapsed on my borrowed sleeping bag.**

**My fingers curled around the Minotaur's horn. I thought about my mom, but I had good thoughts: her smile, the bedtime stories she would read me when I was a kid, the way she would tell me not to let the bedbugs bite.**

**When I closed my eyes, I fell asleep instantly.**

"Awww." Hera, Demeter and Aphrodite cooed happily like a mother should to their babies. Poseidon shook his head smiling wistfully. He wished he could see her grow up.

**That was my first day at Camp Half-Blood.**

**I wish I'd known how briefly I would get to enjoy my new home.**

"Finally!" Ares yelled, jumping up. "All the mushy-mushy stuff is going to make me puke if it continues."

"I'm just hungry." Apollo muttered.

Hestia leaped up from her perch gracefully and snapped her fingers. "Then let's eat." She said, smiling widely and happily. At the snap of her fingers, the table instantly filled with wonderfully cooked homemade food.

She smiled when she saw her family converse with one another. The books now made her family compare the good qualities of their children; some of the goddesses were even singing praises.

She sat down in her small, small throne and watched.

* * *

_A/N: There are quite a few changes here. And as for the vote, please do vote who should be Kronos' minion - Luke or Annabeth or Percy - and the outcomes. Currently, Percy's leading and so she's bitter in this chapter, something that Kronos will use to manipulate her._


	8. Chapter 8

**Genre:** Romance/Family

**Rated: **T

**Pairing(s):** Fem!Percy/Luke

**Summary:** AU. Percy and Luke make a good couple in my opinion. So I tweaked it a little because M/M isn't something I'm very good at writing. Percy's personality will be the same. What would happen if the gods read the books before they knew of Percy?

**Setting**: This starts on the day after Thalia is turned into her tree. So the ages are as below:

Percy: 7

Luke: 14

Annabeth: 7

**Disclaimer:** I do not own **Percy Jackson and the Olympians**

**Warning(s):** AU(Seeing as Percy's female) Obviously there will be spoilers to the books. Also I'm sorry if there are any grammar or spelling mistakes, please forgive me!

* * *

Chapter 8: WE CAPTURE A FLAG

* * *

"I shall read," Hestia volunteered and took the book before anyone can say anything. No one objected.

**The next few days I settled into a routine that felt almost normal, if you don't count the fact that I was getting lessons from satyrs, nymphs, and a centaur.**

**Each morning I took Ancient Greek from Annabeth,**

"Good," Athena approved. "You should learn something from my daughter."

Poseidon scoffed.

**and we talked about the gods and goddesses in the present tense, which was kind of weird.** **I discovered Annabeth was right about my dyslexia: Ancient Greek wasn't that hard for me to read. At least, no harder than English.**

**After a couple of mornings, I could stumble through a few lines of Homer without too much headache.**

**The rest of the day, I'd rotate through outdoor activities, looking for something I was good at. Chiron tried to teach me archery,**

"Archery is the best!" Apollo exclaimed and Artemis nodded her head in agreement. Demeter looked mildly surprised that they actually agreed on anything.

"_What_?" Ares began, but before he could begin his weapon rant, Hestia began to read. She wasn't one for fighting and talking about weapons unnerved her at times.

**but we found out pretty quick I wasn't any good with a bow and arrow.**

"Not surprising," Poseidon said. "My children are horrible archers, they'll nail their own allies – not intentionally, of course – before their enemies."

"But Orion is different," Artemis said quietly. Apollo huffed and drilled holes into the table.

**He didn't complain, even when he had to desnag a stray arrow out of his tail.**

This made the others chuckle.

**Foot racing? No good either. The wood-nymph instructors left me in the dust. They told me not to worry about it. They'd had centuries of practice running away from lovesick gods.**

"They sound so arrogant." Hera rolled her eyes.

"Yes, but its true." Artemis spat said, shooting looks at the males in the room.

**But still, it was a little humiliating to be slower than a tree.**

**And wrestling? Forget it. Every time I got on the mat, Clarisse would pulverize me.**

"HA! That's my girl!" Ares stated proudly. Poseidon looked irritated but he couldn't say anything.

**"There's more where that came from, punk," she'd mumble in my ear.**

"Wow, its _amazing _how much she resembles you, Ares. In both looks _and_ attitude." Athena commented.

"Like we need two Ares in this world." Hades muttered.

**The only thing I really excelled at was canoeing, and that wasn't the kind of heroic skill people expected to see from the kid who had beaten the Minotaur.**

"Get over yourself, that ego will do nothing for you." Athena sneered.

"Children of the Big Three always has huge egos." Dionysus said.

**I knew the senior campers and counselors were watching me, trying to decide who my dad was, but they weren't having an easy time of it. I wasn't as strong as the Ares kids,**

"HA! Of course you're not as strong as my children!" Ares stated happily.

**or as good at archery as the Apollo kids.**

"Don't beat yourself up, kid." Apollo said. "No one's as good as my children."

"My Huntress can so dominate your children." Artemis retorted.

Hermes snickered. "Yes,' he said, nodding sagely. 'Your Hunters will be so happy to be dominated by Apollo's sons."

The two brothers cracked up laughing, along with the other council, leaving Artemis to splutter in indignation.

**I didn't have Hephaestus's skill with metalwork**

"That's alright," Hephaestus grumbled, "Not many do."

**or—gods forbid— Dionysus's way with vine plants.**

"What is _wrong_ with vine plants?" Dionysus whined. This made the other Olympians laugh.

"She has nothing against plants." Demeter said. 'She doesn't wants you as her father."

"Understandable," Hades said. "Even I wouldn't want to be your daughter."

"Hey!"

**Luke told me I might be a child of Hermes, a kind of jack-of-all-trades, master of none.****But I got the feeling he was just trying to make me feel better. He really didn't know what to make of me either.**

**Despite all that, I liked camp. I got used to the morning fog over the beach, the smell of hot strawberry fields in the afternoon, even the weird noises of monsters in the woods at night. I would eat dinner with cabin eleven, scrape part of my meal into the fire, and try to feel some connection to my real dad. Nothing came.**

Poseidon frowned, displeased. Something serious – that will endanger Percy if he chose to claim her – must be happening in the future. He wondered what and when he would end. He was pretty sure his future-self was dying to claim his daughter. He would too.

**Just that warm feeling I'd always had, like the memory of his smile. I tried not to think too much about my mom, but I kept wondering: if gods and monsters were real, if all this magical stuff was possible, surely there was some way to save her, to bring her back...**

"She's making me plenty worried." Poseidon muttered.

"As a good father should." Hestia said.

"What parent don't worry over their children?" Hera asked.

"You for example." Hephaestus mumbled under his breath. Either no one heard him or they chose not to comment. Hera managed to keep her face stoically blank, not showing the emotional turmoil she's under.

**I started to understand Luke's bitterness and how he seemed to resent his father, Hermes.**

Hermes whimpered, at being reminded of his son's hate.

**So okay, maybe gods had important things to do. But couldn't they call once in a while, or thunder, or something?**

Zeus rolled his eyes. "You're not even my child, why should I be sending thunder to you?"

"Its just an example." Ares pointed out.

**Dionysus could make Diet Coke appear out of thin air. Why couldn't my dad, whoever he was, make a phone appear?**

"Because of some stupid rules." Poseidon mumbled.

**Thursday afternoon, three days after I'd arrived at Camp Half-Blood, I had my first sword-fighting lesson. Everybody from cabin eleven gathered in the big circular arena, where Luke would be our instructor.**

Hermes brightened up at this, he knew his son was a good sword fighter, now he got to see, well _read_ him in action. "oh, yeah." He muttered. 'Show them what you've got."

Apollo snorted. He was sure his children were adequate in sword fighting but not as good as Hermes, Athena and Ares' children.

**We started with basic stabbing and slashing, using some straw-stuffed dummies in Greek armor. I guess I did okay. At least, I understood what I was supposed to do and my reflexes were good.**

"Naturally, daughter. You will do well with a sword." Poseidon stated with a glint in his eye as he smirked.

**The problem was, I couldn't find a blade that felt right in my hands. Either they were too heavy, or too light, or too long.**

"Way to complain." Ares rolled his eyes. "Make due with what you got, punk."

**Luke tried his best to fix me up, but he agreed that none of the practice blades seemed to work for me.**

"Such a good cousin, showing true _family_ love, right there." Demeter said happily.

"Hmm, _family_ love, a very strong form of love," Aphrodite began, " But not as good as _real_ love." She smirked with a glint in her eyes.

Hermes laughed nervously; Poseidon huffed, not happy.

**We moved on to dueling in pairs. Luke announced he would be my partner, since this was my first time.**

**"Good luck," one of the campers told me. "Luke's the best swordsman in the last three hundred years."**

At this Hermes smiled proudly.

**"Maybe he'll go easy on me," I said.**

**The camper snorted.**

Ares chuckled at this.

**Luke showed me thrusts and parries and shield blocks the hard way. With every swipe, I got a little more battered and bruised. "Keep your guard up, Percy," he'd say, then whap me in the ribs with the flat of his blade. "No, not that far up!" **_**Whap!**_**"Lunge!" **_**Whap! **_**"Now, back!" **_**Whap!**_

Poseidon decided to take his anger out on Hermes. "Nice way to treat a girl, did you teach your son that?" He asked snarkily.

"What? No!" Hermes protested, pouting that someone can accuse him of something.

"Its over." Poseidon snapped. "He's not having my daughter."

Aphrodite made a whiny sound then snap her mouth shut – but not because of Poseidon's glare. If Poseidon had it his way, it would be forbidden love. The next pair of Romeo and Juliet. It was even better!

**By the time he called a break, I was soaked in sweat. Everybody swarmed the drinks cooler. Luke poured ice water on his head, which looked like such a good idea, I did the same. Its a good thing I have short hair or my whole body will be wet.**

"Awww, isn't that just _so cute_! She wants to be like her big cousin!" Aphrodite squealed.

"There had better not be any double meaning in there." Hermes warned.

**Instantly, I felt better. Strength surged back into my arms. The sword didn't feel so awkward.**

Poseidon chuckled, knowing why.

**"Okay, everybody circle up!" Luke ordered. "If Percy doesn't mind, I want to give you a little demo."**

**Great, I thought. Let's all watch Percy get pounded.**

"Not _this_ time." Poseidon stated in a sing-song voice.

**The Hermes guys gathered around. They were suppressing smiles. I figured they'd been in my shoes before and couldn't wait to see how Luke used me for a punching bag. He told everybody he was going to demonstrate a disarming technique: how to twist the enemy's blade with the flat of your own sword so that he had no choice but to drop his weapon.**

"Which is a very good move." Ares said smirking.

**"This is difficult," he stressed. "I've had it used against me. No laughing at Percy, now. Most swordsmen have to work years to master this technique."**

**He demonstrated the move on me in slow motion. Sure enough, the sword clattered out of my hand.**

**"Now in real time," he said, after I'd retrieved my weapon. "We keep sparring until one of us pulls it off. Ready, Percy?"**

"Oh, she's ready." Poseidon chuckled.

**I nodded, and Luke came after me. Somehow, I kept him from getting a shot at the hilt of my sword. My senses opened up. I saw his attacks coming. I countered. I stepped forward and tried a thrust of my own. Luke deflected it easily, but I saw a change in his face. His eyes narrowed, and he started to press me with more force.**

"She _need _to be powered-up by her element!" Hermes huffed.

**The sword grew heavy in my hand. The balance wasn't right.**

"Its wearing off, _get her_ Luke." Hermes cheered his son on.

**I knew it was only a matter of seconds before Luke took me down, so I figured, What the heck?**

**I tried the disarming maneuver.**

**My blade hit the base of Luke's and I twisted, putting my whole weight into a downward thrust.**

_**Clang.**_

Poseidon smirked smugly.

Zeus huffed. 'If Thalia were there, she'll be wiping the floor with the son of Hermes already. She need to boost."

**Luke's sword rattled against the stones.**

**The tip of my blade was an inch from his undefended chest.**

**The other campers were silent.**

**I lowered my sword. "Um, sorry."**

**For a moment, Luke was too stunned to speak.**

**"Sorry?" His scarred face broke into a grin. "By the gods, Percy, why are you sorry? Show me that again!"**

"At least your son isn't a sore loser." Artemis said.

"He probably likes being dominated by the daughter of Poseidon." Ares leered.

Poseidon made a face at the image of his daughter and the boy in that kind of position – Percy being the dominatrix. He and Hermes – who imagined the same thing – nearly fainted.

Artemis threw Ares a dirty glare. 'It will not happen!" She shrieked.

**I didn't want to. The short burst of manic energy had completely abandoned me. But Luke insisted.**

**This time, there was no contest. The moment our swords connected, Luke hit my hilt and sent my weapon skidding across the floor.**

**After a long pause, somebody in the audience said, "Beginner's luck?"**

"More like, 'I'm dry, I'm no longer connected to my Daddy so I got no strength to continue fighting.'" Ares stated.

**Luke wiped the sweat off his brow. He appraised at me with an entirely new interest. "Maybe," he said. "But I wonder what Percy could do with a balanced sword..."**

**Friday afternoon, I was sitting with Grover at the lake, resting from a near-death experience on the climbing wall.**

**Grover had scampered to the top like a mountain goat, but the lava had almost gotten me. My shirt had smoking holes in it. The hairs had been singed off my forearms.**

Poseidon pursed his lips as the other Olympians chuckled.

**We sat on the pier, watching the naiads do underwater basket-weaving, until I got up the nerve to ask Grover how his conversation had gone with Mr. D.**

**His face turned a sickly shade of yellow.**

**"Fine," he said. "Just great."**

**"So your career's still on track?"**

**He glanced at me nervously. "Chiron t-told you I want a searcher's license?"**

Hermes smiled sadly, the satyr wished to look for his son Pan.

**"Well... no." I had no idea what a searcher's license was, but it didn't seem like the right time to ask.** **"He just said you had big plans, you know ... and that you needed credit for completing a keeper's assignment. So did you get it?"**

"Unlikely." Zeus scoffed.

**Grover looked down at the naiads. "Mr. D suspended judgment. He said I hadn't failed or succeeded with you yet, so our fates were still tied together. If you got a quest and I went along to protect you, and we both came back alive, then maybe he'd consider the job complete."**

"He shouldn't be given another chance!" Zeus snapped. He was about to start ranting the reasons – all concerning Thalia – but Hera turns and just _stares_ at him. The look shut him up quite quickly.

**My spirits lifted. "Well, that's not so bad, right?"**

_**"Blaa-ha-ha!**_ **He might as well have transferred me to stable-cleaning duty. The chances of you getting a quest... and even if you did, why would you want **_**me **_**along?"**

**"Of course I'd want you along!"**

**Grover stared glumly into the water. "Basket-weaving ... Must be nice to have a useful skill."**

**I tried to reassure him that he had lots of talents, but that just made him look more miserable. We talked about canoeing and swordplay for a while, then debated the pros and cons of the different gods. Finally, I asked him about the four empty cabins.**

**"Number eight, the silver one, belongs to Artemis," he said. "She vowed to be a maiden forever. So of course, no kids. The cabin is, you know, honorary. If she didn't have one, she'd be mad.**

Artemis rolled her eyes. 'I am not that petty."

"Then if we demolish your cabin now, you won't be angry?" Apollo asked curiously.

"Of course I would be angry!" Artemis snapped. "The cabin is an honorary to me. I meant that from the beginning if they don't build it, I wouldn't be mad at all. My hunters – if they were around the area – wouldn't have to visit. They can camp out, like always do."

Hestia coughed and continued reading.

**"Yeah, okay. But the other three, the ones at the end. Are those the Big Three?"**

**Grover tensed. We were getting close to a touchy subject. "No. One of them, number two, is Hera's," he said. "That's another honorary thing. She's the goddess of marriage, so of course she wouldn't go around having affairs with mortals.**

"Or do you?" Hades asked her with a smile.

"No. I do not." Her stated her glare was icy. Hades chuckled like it didn't even faze him, which it probably didn't.

**That's her husband's job.**

"_WHY YOU LITTLE_-!" Zeus boomed the other Olympians laughed whole heartily.

"Oh, Brother, you _know_ its true." Demeter said between laughs. Zeus grumbled under his breath as Hestia – after managing to calm down from laughing – began reading.

**When we say the Big Three, we mean the three powerful brothers, the sons of Kronos."**

**"Zeus, Poseidon, Hades."**

**"Right. You know. After the great battle with the Titans, they took over the world from their dad and drew lots to decide who got what."**

**"Zeus got the sky," I remembered. "Poseidon the sea, Hades the Underworld."**

**"Uh-huh."**

**"But Hades doesn't have a cabin here." Why not? He should have one here, being one of the Big Three. And I'm pretty sure his cabin would be fill with children instead of thin air, unlike Hera's and Artemis'.**

Hades said nothing, but he looked slightly glum. Hestia looked at him with sympathy. Hera twitched.

**"No. He doesn't have a throne on Olympus, either. He sort of does his own thing down in the Underworld. If he did have a cabin here ..." Grover shuddered. "Well, it wouldn't be pleasant. Let's leave it at that."**

**"But Zeus and Poseidon—they both had, like, a bazillion kids in the myths. Why are their cabins empty?"**

**Grover shifted his hooves uncomfortably.**

**"About sixty years ago, after World War II, the Big Three agreed they wouldn't sire any more heroes.**

"And look how well _that_ turned out." Hera grumbled.

**Their children were just too powerful. They were affecting the course of human events too much, causing too much carnage. World War II, you know, that was basically a fight between the sons of Zeus and Poseidon on one side, and the sons of Hades on the other. The winning side, Zeus and Poseidon, made Hades swear an oath with them: no more affairs with mortal women. They all swore on the River Styx."**

**Thunder boomed.**

**I said, "That's the most serious oath you can make."**

**Grover nodded.**

**"And the brothers kept their word—no kids?"**

"Nope." Came the chorus of answers, as the gods and goddesses turned their gazes to Zeus and Poseidon, who continued to act as if nothing happened.

**Grover's face darkened. "Seventeen years ago, Zeus fell off the wagon.**

Hermes snickered. 'The description's funny."

"I fell first," Zeus added. "followed quite quickly by Poseidon."

"Actually, I thought Uncle P would fall off first." Apollo laughed.

"Why is that?" Poseidon asked. 'Do you have that little faith in me?"

"No, its just that your beaches are crowded with hot chicks, why wouldn't they draw your attention first?" Hermes replied for his brother because he was thinking along the same lines.

**There was this TV starlet with a big fluffy eighties hairdo—he just couldn't help himself. When their child was born, a little girl named Thalia... well, the River Styx is serious about promises. Zeus himself got off easy because he's immortal, but he brought a terrible fate on his daughter."**

Zeus looked troubled, but shrugged it off.

**"But that isn't fair.' It wasn't the little girl's fault."**

**Grover hesitated. "Percy, children of the Big Three have powers greater than other half-bloods.** **They have a strong aura, a scent that attracts monsters. When Hades found out about the girl, he wasn't too happy about Zeus breaking his oath. Hades let the worst monsters out of Tartarus to torment Thalia.**

Zeus glared at Hades, who shuttered and said, "What did you expect?"

**A satyr was assigned to be her keeper when she was twelve, but there was nothing he could do.**

"_HA_! _You_ could have been the one to stay there and die!" Zeus thundered. Hera hurried to calm him down as Hestia continued to read.

**He tried to escort her here with a couple of other half-bloods she'd befriended. They almost made it. They got all the way to the top of that hill."**

**He pointed across the valley, to the pine tree where I'd fought the Minotaur "All three Kindly Ones were after them, along with a horde of hell-hounds They were about to be overrun when Thalia told her satyr to take the other two half-bloods to safety while she held off the monsters.**

"You shouldn't have listened to her." Zeus said miserably. Hestia thought it was cute that he was so miserable over his daughter's fate. It was quite easy to tell she was his favorite child.

**She was wounded and tired, and she didn't want to live like a hunted animal. The satyr didn't want to leave her, but he couldn't change her mind, and he had to protect the others. So Thalia made her final stand alone, at the top of that hill. As she died,**

"She's _not_ dead!" Zeus insisted, "She's just _stuck_ in that tree for awhile."

"I thought she is the tree." Demeter looked bewildered.

"No, plant brain, she and the tree are...like one being, simply merged together." Hades explained though he didn't sound too sure himself.

**Zeus took pity on her. He turned her into that pine tree. Her spirit still helps protect the borders of the valley. That's why the hill is called Half-Blood Hill."**

**I stared at the pine in the distance.**

**The story made me feel hollow, and guilty too. A girl my age had sacrificed herself to save her friends. She had faced a whole army of monsters. Next to that, my victory over the Minotaur didn't seem like much.**

"Very true." Athena stated nodding.

**I wondered, if I'd acted differently, could I have saved my mother?**

**"Grover," I said, "Have heroes really gone on quests to the Underworld?"**

**"Sometimes," he said. "Orpheus. Hercules. Houdini."**

**"And have they ever returned somebody from the dead?"**

**"No. Never. Orpheus came close... . Percy, you're not seriously thinking—"**

**"No," I lied.**

**"I was just wondering. So ... a satyr is always assigned to guard a demigod?"**

**Grover studied me warily. I hadn't persuaded him that I'd really dropped the Underworld idea. "Not always. We go undercover to a lot of schools. We try to sniff out the half-bloods who have the makings of great heroes. If we find one with a very strong aura, like a child of the Big Three, we alert Chiron. He tries to keep an eye on them, since they could cause really huge problems."**

**"And you found me. Chiron said you thought I might be something special."**

"You _are_." Poseidon said.

**Grover looked as if I'd just led him into a trap. "I didn't... Oh, listen, don't think like that. If you **_**were**_—**you know—you'd never **_**ever **_**be allowed a quest, and I'd never get my license. You're probably a child of Hermes.**

**Or maybe even one of the minor gods, like Nemesis, the god of revenge. Don't worry, okay?"**

"HA! Nemesis is a _goddess_ not a _god_, satyr." Poseidon informed.

**I got the idea he was reassuring himself more than me.**

**That night after dinner, there was a lot more excitement than usual.**

**At last, it was time for capture the flag.**

Ares laughed at this a smirk making its way onto his face.

**When the plates were cleared away, the conch horn sounded and we all stood at our tables.**

**Campers yelled and cheered as Annabeth and two of her siblings ran into the pavilion carrying a silk banner. It was about ten feet long, glistening gray, with a painting of a barn owl above an olive tree.**

"Ah, so _my_ children are facing yours." Athena smirked at Ares, who barely seemed fazed by this new information.

**From the opposite side of the pavilion, Clarisse and her buddies ran in with another banner, of identical size, but gaudy red, painted with a bloody spear and a boar's head.**

**I turned to Luke and yelled over the noise, "Those are the flags?"**

**"Yeah."**

**"Ares and Athena always lead the teams?"**

**"Not always," he said. "But often."**

**"So, if another cabin captures one, what do you do— repaint the flag?"**

**He grinned. "You'll see. First we have to get one."**

**"Whose side are we on?"**

**He gave me a sly look, as if he knew something I didn't. The scar on his face made him look almost evil in the torchlight. "We've made a temporary alliance with Athena. Tonight, we get the flag from Ares. And**_**you **_**are going to help."**

"You won't be getting the flag." Ares chuckled.

"My team does have an advantage." Athena mused.

**The teams were announced. Athena had made an alliance with Apollo and Hermes, the two biggest cabins.**

"Yes!" Apollo pumped his fists into the air, he and Hermes high-fived.

**Apparently, privileges had been traded—shower times, chore schedules, the best slots for activities—in order to win support.**

**Ares had allied themselves with everybody else: Dionysus, Demeter, Aphrodite, and Hephaestus. From what I'd seen, Dionysus's kids were actually good athletes, but there were only two of them. Demeter's kids had the edge with nature skills and outdoor stuff but they weren't very aggressive. Aphrodite's sons and daughters I wasn't too worried about. They mostly sat out every activity and checked their reflections in the lake and did their hair and gossiped. Hephaestus's kids weren't pretty, and there were only four of them, but they were big and burly from working in the metal shop all day. They might be a problem.**

**That, of course, left Ares's cabin: a dozen of the biggest, ugliest, meanest kids on Long Island, or anywhere else on the planet.**

Ares and Athena both smirked at each other.

**Chiron hammered his hoof on the marble.**

**"Heroes!" he announced. "You know the rules. The creek is the boundary line. The entire forest is fair game. All magic items are allowed. The banner must be prominently displayed, and have no more than two guards. Prisoners may be disarmed, but may not be bound or gagged. No killing or maiming is allowed. I will serve as referee and battlefield medic. Arm yourselves!"**

**He spread his hands, and the tables were suddenly covered with equipment: helmets, bronze swords, spears, oxhide shields coated in metal.**

**"Whoa," I said. "We're really supposed to use these?**

"Your daughter's mother must have dropped her on the head when she was a baby." Athena murmured in disbelief.

"Hey! Sally's not that careless!"

**Luke looked at me as if I were crazy. "Unless you want to get skewered by your friends in cabin five. Here—Chiron thought these would fit. You'll be on border patrol."**

**My shield was the size of an NBA backboard, with a big caduceus in the middle. It weighed about a million pounds. I could have snowboarded on it fine, but I hoped nobody seriously expected me to run fast. My helmet, like all the helmets on Athena's side, had a blue horsehair plume on top. Ares and their allies had red plumes.**

**Annabeth yelled, "Blue team, forward!"**

**We cheered and shook our swords and followed her down the path to the south woods. The red team yelled taunts at us as they headed off toward the north.**

**I managed to catch up with Annabeth without tripping over my equipment. "Hey."**

"Don't distract her – you're going into battle!" Athena exclaimed.

**She kept marching.**

**"So what's the plan?" I asked. "Got any magic items you can loan me?"**

**Her hand drifted toward her pocket, as if she were afraid I'd stolen something.**

"She's not a child of Hermes so don't worry." Poseidon rolled his eyes.

**"Just watch Clarisse's spear," she said. "You don't want that thing touching you. Otherwise, don't worry. We'll take the banner from Ares. Has Luke given you your job?"**

**"Border patrol, whatever that means."**

**"It's easy. Stand by the creek, keep the reds away. Leave the rest to me. Athena always has a plan."**

Athena smiled nodding.

**She pushed ahead, leaving me in the dust.**

**"Okay," I mumbled. "Glad you wanted me on your team."**

**It was a warm, sticky night. The woods were dark, with fireflies popping in and out of view**_**. **_**Annabeth stationed me next to a little creek that gurgled over some rocks, then she and the rest of the team scattered into the trees.**

**Standing there alone, with my big blue-feathered helmet and my huge shield, I felt like an idiot. The bronze sword, like all the swords I'd tried so far, seemed balanced wrong. The leather grip pulled on my hand like a bowling ball.**

**There was no way anybody would actually attack me, would they? I mean, Olympus had to have liability issues, right?**

This made a few of the gods chuckle.

**Far away, the conch horn blew. I heard whoops and yells in the woods, the clanking of metal, kids fighting. A blue-plumed ally from Apollo raced past me like a deer, leaped through the creek, and disappeared into enemy territory.**

**Great, I thought. I'll miss all the fun, as usual.**

"Okay, you were just complaining about having to fight, and have people attack you, and_ now_ your complaining that you're going to miss the fun?" Athena raised an eyebrow.

"Make a choice," Hera muttered.

"You're starting to sound like Janus." Ares remarked.

**Then I heard a sound that sent a chill up my spine, a low canine growl, somewhere close by.**

**I raised my shield instinctively; I had the feeling some thing was stalking me.**

**Then the growling stopped. I felt the presence retreating.**

**On the other side of the creek, the underbrush exploded. Five Ares warriors came yelling and screaming out of the dark.**

**"Cream the punk!" Clarisse screamed.**

Poseidon growled.

**Her ugly pig eyes glared through the slits of her helmet. She brandished a five-foot-long spear, its barbed metal tip flickering with red light. Her siblings had only the standard-issue bronze swords—not that that made me feel any better.**

**They charged across the stream. There was no help in sight. I could run. Or I could defend myself against half the Ares cabin.**

**I managed to sidestep the first kid's swing, but these guys were not as stupid the Minotaur.**

"Really?" Athena asked innocently "That's quite the shock."

"Shut up, know-it-all." Ares shot back at her. "Your children and mine are different. What do you expect?"

**They surrounded me, and Clarisse thrust at me with her spear. My shield deflected the point, but I felt a painful tingling all over my body. My hair stood on end. My shield arm went numb, and the air burned.**

Ares threw his head back and laughed arrogantly. "Take that, punk!"

Poseidon glared at him. "If anything happens to her..."

"Don't be silly," Hestia chided gently. "The books are all about your daughter. As the hero, she isn't going to die yet."

"Yet," Hera added unhelpfully. Which did nothing to calm Poseidon's nerves. "She might die at the end of the last book."

Zeus coughed and shot her a look.

**Electricity. Her stupid spear was electric. I fell back.**

**Another Ares guy slammed me in the chest with the butt of his sword and I hit the dirt.**

**They could've kicked me into jelly, but they were too busy laughing.**

**"Give him a haircut," Clarisse said. "Grab his hair."**

"If they dare touch one hair on my beautiful daughter..." Poseidon threatened.

**I managed to get to my feet. I raised my sword, but Clarisse slammed it aside with her spear as sparks flew. Now both my arms felt numb.**

**"Oh, wow," Clarisse said. "I'm scared of this guy. Really scared."**

"You _should _be." Poseidon said darkly. If only his daughter had siblings, they would have protected her and taught her everything they knew. Stupid promise by the Styx, he thought.

**"The flag is that way," I told her. I wanted to sound angry, but I was afraid it didn't come out that way.**

"Don't give up the position!" Athena screeched.

"Now's not the time for that!" Poseidon snapped.

"Um...she should be worried, she's the goddess of battle strategies after all." Hermes doubted anyone heard him but Hestia.

**"Yeah," one of her siblings said. "But see, we don't care about the flag. We care about a guy who made our cabin look stupid."**

**"You do that without my help," I told them. It probably wasn't the smartest thing to say.**

"It wasn't." Athena muttered. 'But I expect no less from a child of yours."

**Two of them came at me. I backed up toward the creek,**

"No! Don't let her near the water!" Ares screamed.

"Good." Poseidon smirked.

"They can't hear you!" Demeter informed him.

**tried to raise my shield, but Clarisse was too fast. Her spear stuck me straight in the ribs. If I hadn't been wearing an armored breastplate, I would've been shish-kebabbed. As it was, the electric point just about shocked my teeth out of my mouth. One of her cabinmates slashed his sword across my arm, leaving a good-size cut.**

"_Ares_." Poseidon growled dangerously. Ares gulped.

**Seeing my own blood made me dizzy—warm and cold at the same time.**

**"No maiming," I managed to say.**

**"Oops," the guy said. "Guess I lost my dessert privilege."**

**He pushed me into the creek and I landed with a splash.**

"NO!" Ares yelled, "Don't let him touch the water!"

**They all laughed. I figured as soon as they were through being amused, I would die. But then something happened. The water seemed to wake up my senses, as if I'd just had a bag of my mom's double-espresso jelly beans.**

A smirk spread across Poseidon's face, he began to chuckle.

**Clarisse and her cabinmates came into the creek to get me, but I stood to meet them. I knew what to do. I swung the flat of my sword against the first guy's head and knocked his helmet clean off. I hit him so hard I could see his eyes vibrating as he crumpled into the water.**

**Ugly Number Two and Ugly Number Three came at me. I slammed one in the face with my shield and used my sword to shear off the other guy's horsehair plume. Both of them backed up quick. Ugly Number Four didn't look really anxious to attack, but Clarisse kept coming, the point of her spear crackling with energy. As soon as she thrust, I caught the shaft between the edge of my shield and my sword, and I snapped it like a twig.**

**"Ah!" she screamed. "You idiot! You corpse-breath worm!"**

**She probably would've said worse, but I smacked her between the eyes with my sword-butt and sent her stumbling backward out of the creek.**

"This book's a fluke." Ares muttered after a moment of stunned silence. "No way _one daughter_ of _Poseidon_ – a _girl_ mind you – can defeat my sons and daughters who all received _more training than he_r!"

**Then I heard yelling, elated screams, and I saw Luke racing toward the boundary line with the red team's banner lifted high. He was flanked by a couple of Hermes guys covering his retreat, and a few Apollos behind them, fighting off the Hephaestus kids. The Ares folks got up, and Clarisse muttered a dazed curse.**

**"A trick!" she shouted. "It was a trick."**

**They staggered after Luke, but it was too late. Everybody converged on the creek as Luke ran across into friendly territory. Our side exploded into cheers. The red banner shimmered and turned to silver. The boar and spear were replaced with a huge caduceus, the symbol of cabin eleven. Everybody on the blue team picked up Luke and started carrying him around on their shoulders. Chiron cantered out from the woods and blew the conch horn.**

Hermes and Apollo were laughing, huge smiles on their faces, Athena smirked happily.

**The game was over. We'd won.**

**I was about to join the celebration when Annabeth's voice, right next to me in the creek, said, "Not bad, hero."**

**I looked, but she wasn't there.**

**"Where the heck did you learn to fight like that?" she asked. The air shimmered, and she materialized, holding a Yankees baseball cap as if she'd just taken it off her head.**

"Its in her blood." Poseidon declared proudly.

"Do you have to be so loud?" Athena looked irritated.

"You're just jealous, owl head."

"Why you kelp head–"

Hestia hastily continued to read.

**I felt myself getting angry. I wasn't even fazed by the fact that she'd just been invisible. "You set me up," I said. "You put me here because you knew Clarisse would come after me, while you sent Luke around the flank. You had it all figured out."**

**Annabeth shrugged. "I told you. Athena always, always has a plan."**

Athena nodded in approval.

**"A plan to get me pulverized."**

"I don't mind." Athena said. "She should do it more often, use your daughter as bait I mean."

"I do mind and if it happens again, there will be hell to pay." Poseidon scowled.

**"I came as fast as I could. I was about to jump in, but ..." She shrugged. "You didn't need help."**

**Then she noticed my wounded arm. "How did you do that?"**

**"Sword cut," I said. "What do you think?"**

**"No. It **_**was **_**a sword cut. Look at it."**

"She can heal herself in water?" Apollo's eyebrow shot up into his hairline.

"Yes," Poseidon said. "Being my mortal child gives you that advantage – so much more better than the rest of you."

Zeus and Hades glowered at him. Hades especially harder since his children didn't have much advantage.

**The blood was gone. Where the huge cut had been, there was a long white scratch, and even that was fading. As I watched, it turned into a small scar, and disappeared.**

**"I—I don't get it," I said.**

**Annabeth was thinking hard.**

**I could almost see the gears turning. She looked down at my feet, then at Clarisse's broken spear, and said, "Step out of the water, Percy."**

**"What—"**

**"Just do it."**

**I came out of the creek and immediately felt bone tired. My arms started to go numb again. My adrenaline rush left me. I almost fell over, but Annabeth steadied me.**

"That sounds painful." Demeter winced.

"She'll get use to it." Zeus shrugged uncaringly. If it was his daughter, then he might be worried and pained – like Poseidon is now.

**"Oh, Styx," she cursed. "This is **_**not **_**good. I didn't want... I assumed it would be Zeus..."**

"_Excuse me_?" Zeus asked anger filling his eyes.

"Well, Father, you _are_ the most likely." Athena hurried to calm her father.

"You really are." Artemis admitted as well. When faced with his two favorite daughters, Zeus calmed.

**Before I could ask what she meant, I heard that canine growl again, but much closer than before. A howl ripped through the forest.**

**The campers' cheering died instantly. Chiron shouted something in Ancient Greek, which I would realize, only later, I had understood perfectly: "**_**Stand ready**_**!**_**My bow**_**!"**

**Annabeth drew her sword.**

**There on the rocks just above us was a black hound the size of a rhino, with lava-red eyes and fangs like daggers.**

Poseidon looked ready to spit acid in Hades' face.

**It was looking straight at me.**

**Nobody moved except Luke, who yelled, "Percy, run!"**

"Aw–" Aphrodite squealed.

**He tried to step in front of me, **

Her squealing got louder; Poseidon was ready to faint or stab Hades with his trident; Hermes was now starting to worry.

**but the hound was too fast. It leaped over him—an enormous shadow with teeth—and just as it hit me, **

Hermes let out a sigh of relief, but felt slightly guilty when he caught sight of Poseidon's tightening grip on his armrest. His son was out of danger but not Poseidon's child.

**as I stumbled backward and felt its razor-sharp claws ripping through my armor, there was a cascade of thwacking sounds, like forty pieces of paper being ripped one after the other. From the hounds neck sprouted a cluster of arrows. The monster fell dead at my feet.**

**By some miracle, I was still alive. I didn't want to look underneath the ruins of my shredded armor. My chest felt warm and wet, and I knew I was badly cut. Another second, and the monster would've turned me into a hundred pounds of delicatessen meat.**

**Chiron trotted up next to us, a bow in his hand, his face grim.**

_**"Di immortales!"**_ **Annabeth said. "That's a hellhound from the Fields of Punishment. They don't... they're not supposed to..."**

"Oh, but it did." Ares chuckled, causing everyone to glare at him.

**"Someone summoned it," Chiron said. "Someone inside the camp."**

"When I get my hands on him..." Poseidon started to say.

"Have it ever occurred to you that a girl might be the one doing the deed?" Artemis interrupted.

"Are you implying that a girl did that?" Hera asked, frowning.

"No, I'm merely stating that girls shouldn't be underestimated."

**Luke came over to me immediately, the banner in his hand forgotten, his moment of glory gone. Ethan hovered a ways behind him.**

**Clarisse yelled, "It's all Percy's fault! Percy summoned it!"**

Athena snorted. 'I am not sure whether who is stupider – Ares' or Poseidon's daughter. Ares glared at her but Poseidon was too worried about his daughter to care about Athena's jab at him and his - up to date only – favorite child.

**"Be quiet, child," Chiron told her.**

**We watched the body of the hellhound melt into shadow, soaking into the ground until it disappeared.**

**"You're wounded," Annabeth told me. "Quick, Percy, get in the water."**

"Good thinking." Apollo nodded.

**"I'm okay."**

**"No, you're not," Luke said. "Chiron, watch this."**

**I was too tired to argue. And I was too tired and beaten up to move either. Luke scooped me up into his arms and placed me in the creek. "Like this?" He asked Annabeth. She nodded and he stepped back to watch what would happen. The whole camp gathering.**

**Instantly, I felt better. I could feel the cuts on my chest closing up. Some of the campers gasped.**

**"Look, I—I don't know why," I said, trying to apologize. "I'm sorry..."**

"There is nothing to apologize for." Poseidon smiled.

**But they weren't watching my wounds heal. They were staring at something above my head.**

**"Percy," Annabeth said, pointing. "Um ..."**

**By the time I looked up, the sign was already fading, but I could still make out the hologram of green light, spinning and gleaming. A three-tipped spear: a trident.**

"You claimed her?" Zeus asked.

"Yes, it would appear that I did, and honestly I'm surprised it took me that long." Poseidon mused.

Hades' mood soured. "You would have claimed her once she cross the border."

At Poseidon's nod, he scowled further.

**"Your father," Annabeth murmured. "This is **_**really **_**not good."**

**"It is determined," Chiron announced.**

**All around me, campers started kneeling, even the Ares cabin, though they didn't look happy about it.**

"Why should they?" Athena and Ares asked angrily, hating the idea that their children need to kneel.

"Its necessary for the claiming of childrens of the Big Three." Zeus waved it off.

**"My father?" I asked, completely bewildered.**

"Yes, daughter. I am your father." Poseidon smiled happily, he practically vibrated.

**"Poseidon," said Chiron. "Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Father of Horses. Hail, Persephone Jackson, First Daughter of the Sea God."**

"Are there any need to name the big arse titles?" Ares asked rather rudely.

"Yes," Poseidon stated. "Who's next?"

"Me," Hepheastus said. He cleared his throat and started.

* * *

_Hope its not too late. R&R!_


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N; Thanks to all those that subscribed and favorited and reviewed. i hope you continue to do so! More notes below.**

* * *

Chapter 9: I AM OFFERED A QUEST

* * *

**The next morning, Chiron moved me to cabin three.**

"Where you should have been since the beginning." Poseidon grumbled.

**I didn't have to share with anybody. I had plenty of room for all my stuff: the Minotaur's horn, one set of spare clothes, and a toiletry bag. I got to sit at my own dinner table, pick all my own activities, call "lights out" whenever I felt like it, and not listen to anybody else.**

Hades frowned. He was sure his niece was utterly miserable. He knew how she felt. Really, he did, to not be included with the activities everyone took part in.

**And I was absolutely miserable.**

Hades sighed. Maybe he was starting to like his niece a little too much. After all, he was supposed to hate his brothers' children.

**Just when I'd started to feel accepted, to feel I had a home in cabin eleven and I might be a normal kid—or as normal as you can be when you're a half-blood—I'd been separated out as if I had some rare disease.**

**Nobody mentioned the hellhound, but I got the feeling they were all talking about it behind my back.**

"They probably are." Aphrodite shrugged.

"After all, it _is _a camp." Dionysus confirmed, nodding.

**The attack had scared everybody. It sent two messages: one; that I was the very first daughter of the Sea Godand two, monsters would stop at nothing to kill me. They could even invade a camp that had always been considered safe just for the flesh and blood of a new breed of demi-god.**

Poseidon frowned. He had never wanted such a fate for his daughter. His only daughter ever, He wondered or not will she have any other special powers; he never had a daughter before so he didn't know.

**The other campers steered clear of me as much as possible.**

"Wimps." Ares scoffed.

"Don't call my children that." Athena spat.

**Cabin eleven was too nervous to have sword class with me after what I'd done to the Ares folks in the woods, so my lessons with Luke became one-on-one. He pushed me harder than ever, and wasn't afraid to bruise me up in the process.**

"Well at least Luke isn't afraid to be _alone_ with Percy." Aphrodite giggled as Hermes and Poseidon glared at her.

**"You're going to need all the training you can get," he promised, as we were working with swords and flaming torches. "Now let's try that viper-beheading strike again. Fifty more repetitions."**

"_Yes_, he wants Percy to be nice, strong, and sexy." Aphrodite smirked with a twinkle in her eyes as she giggled like a madwoman. Demeter was having trouble breathing, she was blushing and fanning herself. Hades sneered at her.

"I didn't know you were into these things."

"SHUT UP!"

**Annabeth still taught me Greek in the mornings, but she seemed distracted. Every time I said something, she scowled at me, as if I'd just poked her between the eyes.**

**After lessons, she would walk away muttering to herself: "Quest ... Poseidon? ... Dirty rotten ... Got to make a plan …"**

"Seems that she has her mother's train of thought." Apollo chuckled.

**Even Clarisse kept her distance, though her venomous looks made it clear she wanted to kill me for breaking her magic spear. I wished she would just yell or punch me or something. I'd rather get into fights every day than be ignored.**

Ares smirked. "Your girl's a-"

"I don't want to hear your comments concerning my daughter." Poseidon interrupted.

**I knew somebody at camp resented me, because one night I came into my cabin and found a mortal newspaper dropped inside the doorway, a copy of the **_**New York Daily News, **_**opened to the Metro page. The article took me almost an hour to read, because the angrier I got, the more the words floated around on the page.**

_**GIRL AND MOTHER STILL MISSING AFTER**_ _**FREAK CAR ACCIDENT**_

_**BY EILEEN SMYTHE**_

Poseidon scowled. "When I get my hands on the one that put it there-"

"You can't hurt one of our children!" Hermes cried.

"So you're admitting it was one of yours, Hermes?" Poseidon asked, voice deadly calm.

"NO!" Hermes wailed. "I was just setting an example."

_**Sally Jackson and daughter Percy are still missing one week after their mysterious disappearance. The family's badly burned '78 Camaro was discovered last Saturday on a north Long Island road with the roof ripped off and the front axle broken. The car had flipped and skidded for several hundred feet before exploding.**_

_**Mother and daughter had gone for a weekend vacation to Montauk, but left hastily, under mysterious circumstances. Small traces of blood were found in the car and near the scene of the wreck, but there were no other signs of the missing Jacksons. Residents in the rural area reported seeing nothing unusual around the time of the accident.**_

_**Ms. Jackson's husband, Gabe Ugliano, claims that his stepdaughter, Percy Jackson, is a troubled child who has been kicked out of numerous boarding schools and has expressed violent tendencies in the past.**_

Poseidon growled. "He has no right...no right to criticize Percy."

"He's even worse than her." Athena added.

"Men!" Artemis huffed.

_**Police would not say whether daughter Percy is a suspect in her mother's disappearance, but they have not ruled out foul play. Below are recent pictures of Sally Jackson and Percy. Police urge anyone with information to call the following toll-free crime-stoppers hotline.**_

**The phone number was circled in black marker.**

**I wadded up the paper and threw it away, then flopped down in my bunk bed in the middle of my empty cabin.**

**"Lights out," I told myself miserably.**

Hades looked sad. He can empathize with her now.

**That night, I had my worst dream yet.**

**I was running along the beach in a storm. This time, there was a city behind me. Not New York. The sprawl was different: buildings spread farther apart, palm trees and low hills in the distance.**

**About a hundred yards down the surf, two men were fighting. They looked like TV wrestlers, muscular, with beards and long hair. Both wore flowing Greek tunics, one trimmed in blue, the other in green.**

"He's dreaming about you and Uncle P," Apollo stated the obvious.

Artemis couldn't help but jab him. "We know that, Mr. Obvious." Apollo looked hurt but didn't say anything; Hestia sent Artemis a soft reprimanding look.

**They grappled with each other, wrestled, kicked and head-butted, and every time they connected, lightning flashed, the sky grew darker, and the wind rose.**

**I had to stop them. I didn't know why. But the harder I ran, the more the wind blew me back, until I was running in place, my heels digging uselessly in the sand.**

**Over the roar of the storm, I could hear the blue-robed one yelling at the green-robed one, **_**Give it back! Give it back! **_**Like a kindergartner fighting over a toy.**

This made Poseidon laugh and the others chuckle as Zeus pouted.

**The waves got bigger, crashing into the beach, spraying me with salt.**

**I yelled, **_**Stop it! Stop fighting!**_

**The ground shook. Laughter came from somewhere under the earth, and a voice so deep and evil it turned my blood to ice**_**.**_

_**Come down, little heroin, **_**the voice crooned. **_**Come down!**_

Everyone turned to look at Hades. Who immediately looked hurt again. "What?" He asked. "You think it was me?"

"Deep and evil...yes." Demeter concluded. Hades glared at her.

**The sand split beneath me, opening up a crevice straight down to the center of the earth. My feet slipped, and darkness swallowed me.**

**I woke up, sure I was falling.**

**I was still in bed in cabin three. My body told me it was morning, but it was dark outside, and thunder rolled across the hills. A storm was brewing. I hadn't dreamed that.**

"If only that were the case." Poseidon said sadly.

**I heard a clopping sound at the door, a hoof knocking on the threshold.**

**"Come in?"**

**Grover trotted inside, looking worried and awkward. He had been awkward around me ever since Chiron announced me as daughter of Poseidon. "Mr. D wants to see you."**

**"Why?"**

**"He wants to kill... I mean, I'd better let him tell you."**

Poseidon turned and glared at Dionysus.

**Nervously, I got dressed and followed, sure that I was in huge trouble.**

**For days, I'd been half expecting a summons to the Big House. Now that I was declared a son of Poseidon, one of the Big Three gods who weren't supposed to have kids, I figured it was a crime for me just to be alive.**

"Oh, it is." Hades confirmed, glaring at his two brothers, who both began whistling.

**The other gods had probably been debating the best way to punish me for existing, and now Mr. D was ready to deliver their verdict.**

**Over Long Island Sound, the sky looked like ink soup coming to a boil. A hazy curtain of rain was coming in our direction. I asked Grover if we needed an umbrella.**

**"No," he said. "It never rains here unless we want it to."**

**I pointed at the storm. "What the heck is that, then?"**

**He glanced uneasily at the sky. "It'll pass around us. Bad weather always does."**

**I realized he was right. In the week I'd been here, it had never even been overcast. The few rain clouds I'd seen had skirted right around the edges of the valley.**

**But this storm ... this one was huge.**

"If it is caused by Father and dearest Uncle P, it will pass over the camp." Dionysus shrugged.

**At the volleyball pit, the kids from Apollo's cabin were playing a morning game against the satyrs. Dionysus's twins were walking around in the strawberry fields, making the plants grow. Everybody was going about their normal business, but they looked tense. They kept their eyes on the storm.**

Dionysus rolled his eyes. "Why bother. It will pass soon."

**Grover and I walked up to the front porch of the Big House. Dionysus sat at the pinochle table in his tiger-striped Hawaiian shirt with his Diet Coke, just as he had on my first day. Chiron sat across the table in his fake wheel chair. They were playing against invisible opponents-two sets of cards hovering in the air.**

**"Well, well," Mr. D said without looking up. "Our little celebrity."**

**I waited.**

**"Come closer," Mr. D said. "And don't expect me to bow to you, mortal, just because old Barnacle-Beard is your father."**

Poseidon's eyebrow twitched. He half-turned in his throne and glowered at Dionysus "Barnacle-Beard?"

"Um..." Dionysus laughed nervously and shifted further from his uncle.

Hephaestus went to his rescue by continuing to read.

**A net of lightning flashed across the clouds. Thunder shook the windows of the house.**

**"Blah, blah, blah," Dionysus said.**

**Chiron feigned interest in his pinochle cards. Grover cowered by the railing, his hooves clopping back and forth.**

**"If I had my way," Dionysus said, "I would cause your molecules to erupt in flames. We'd sweep up the ashes and be done with a lot of trouble.**

Dionysus wisely – I know, I'm surprised too – chose to hide behind his father.

**But Chiron seems to feel this would be against my mission at this cursed camp: to keep you little brats safe from harm."**

**"Spontaneous combustion **_**is **_**a form of harm, Mr. D," Chiron put in.**

**"Nonsense," Dionysus said. "Girl wouldn't feel a thing. Nevertheless, I've agreed to restrain myself. I'm thinking of turning you into a dolphin instead, sending you back to your father."**

"If you did," Poseidon muttered. "I will turn you into a frog."

"Will it last?" Artemis asked innocently.

"We'll see."

**"Mr. D—" Chiron warned.**

**"Oh, all right," Dionysus relented. "There's one more option. But it's deadly foolishness." Dionysus rose, and the invisible players' cards dropped to the table. "I'm off to Olympus for the emergency meeting. If the girl is still here when I get back, I'll turn her into an Atlantic bottle nose Do you understand? And Persephone Jackson, if you're at all smart, you'll see that's a much more sensible choice than what Chiron feels you must do."**

"_How_ is turning my son into a dolphin going to solve _anything_, nephew?" Poseidon asked examining his nails.

"I know not, Uncle." Dionysus shakily replied.

**Dionysus picked up a playing card, twisted it, and it became a plastic rectangle. A credit card? No. A security pass.**

**He snapped his fingers.**

**The air seemed to fold and bend around him. He became a hologram, then a wind, then he was gone, leaving only the smell of fresh-pressed grapes lingering behind.**

**Chiron smiled at me, but he looked tired and strained. "Sit, Percy, please. And Grover."**

**We did.**

**Chiron laid his cards on the table, a winning hand he hadn't gotten to use.**

**"Tell me, Percy," he said. "What did you make of the hellhound?"**

**Just hearing the name made me shudder.**

**Chiron probably wanted me to say, **_**Heck, it was nothing. I eat hellhounds for breakfast.**_

"Lying wouldn't anyone any good." Hera warned.

"If she said that, Chiron will think she's ready for anything and throw her into tons of dangerous quests." Apollo said.

"Good." Ares said dreamily. "Bloodshed..."

**But I didn't feel like lying.**

Poseidon breathed a sigh of relief. "Good, now she will be stuck at camp."

"Are you kidding me?" Artemis hissed. "Dionysus said he'll curse her if she stayed."

"She can just hide." Aphrodite suggested.

Athena was amazed at her stupidity.

**"It scared me," I said. "If you hadn't shot it, I'd be dead."**

**"You'll meet worse, Percy. Far worse, before you're done."**

"Doesn't that sound like a ray of sunshine?" Apollo asked.

**"Done ... with what?"**

**"Your quest, of course. Will you accept it?"**

"Please do." Ares said giddily. "There will be so many fights."

"And chances of dying." Hades quipped unhelpfully, enjoying how Poseidon squirmed.

**I glanced at Grover, who was crossing his fingers.**

**"Um, sir," I said, "you haven't told me what it is yet."**

**Chiron grimaced. "Well, that's the hard part, the details."**

"This doesn't sound good." Demeter mumbled.

**Thunder rumbled across the valley. The storm clouds had now reached the edge of the beach. As far as I could see, the sky and the sea were boiling together.**

"Interesting." Athena murmured.

"You are starting to sound like Ares." Demeter pointed out.

"NO! That's not what I meant and saying me and him are similar is insulting!" Athena hissed. "I was saying how things were that serious!"

**"Poseidon and Zeus," I said. "They're fighting over something valuable ... something that was stolen, aren't they?"**

**Chiron and Grover exchanged looks.**

**Chiron sat forward in his wheelchair. "How did you know that?"**

**My face felt hot. I wished I hadn't opened my big mouth. "The weather since Christmas has been weird, like the sea and the sky are fighting. Then I talked to Annabeth, and she'd overheard something about a theft.**

"Oh, _yes_, by _all means_ bring her into this." Athena rolled her eyes.

**And ... I've also been having these dreams."**

**"I knew it," Grover said.**

**"Hush, satyr," Chiron ordered.**

**"But it is her quest!" Grover's eyes were bright with excitement. "It must be!"**

"If it is her quest, there is no need to get so excited, satyr." Hephaestus grumbled. "It would be _tragic_. Female heroes rarely ever return safely or at all."

**"Only the Oracle can determine."**

Apollo sighed. "Still in that same old mummy."

**Chiron stroked his bristly beard. "Nevertheless, Percy, you are correct. Your father and Zeus are having their worst quarrel in centuries. They are fighting over something valuable that was stolen. To be precise: a lightning bolt."**

Zeus began to growl. "If your daughter really did the deed..." The threat was left hanging in the air.

**I laughed nervously. "A **_**what**_**?"**

**"Do not take this lightly," Chiron warned. "I'm not talking about some tinfoil-covered zigzag you'd see in a second-grade play. I'm talking about a two-foot-long cylinder of high-grade celestial bronze, capped on both ends with god-level explosives."**

**"Oh."**

"Who would be stupid enough to take your master bolt?" Hermes asked.

"I have no idea, son." Zeus looked livid.

**"Zeus's master bolt," Chiron said, getting worked up now. "The symbol of his power, from which all other lightning bolts are patterned. The first weapon made by the Cyclopes for the war against the Titans, the bolt that sheered the top off Mount Etna and hurled Kronos from his throne; the master bolt, which packs enough power to make mortal hydrogen bombs look like firecrackers."**

At this Zeus stroked the weapon at his side smiling at its history. Hades and Poseidon rolled their eyes. Everything related to Zeus will always be dramatic.

**"And it's missing?"**

**"Stolen," Chiron said.**

**"By who?"**

**"By **_**whom**_**," Chiron corrected.**

"I don't think its the time for teaching." Hermes said.

"She should still be learning." Athena protested.

**Once a teacher, always a teacher.**

**"By you."**

"I knew it!" Zeus yelled triumphantly.

"Bull!" Poseidon yelled in return. "If she truly did, there would have been proof in her thoughts. Has it ever occurred to you that we are reading from my daughter's point of view?!"

"You actually said something smart for once..." Athena murmured in disbelief.

**My mouth fell open.**

**"At least"—Chiron held up a hand—"that's what Zeus thinks. During the winter solstice, at the last council of the gods, Zeus and Poseidon had an usual nonsense: 'Mother Rhea always liked you best,' 'Air disasters are more spectacular than sea disasters,' etcetera.**

The Olympians snorted in soft laughter.

**Afterward, Zeus realized his master bolt was missing, taken from the throne room under his very nose. He immediately blamed Poseidon.**

"Of _course_ you did." Poseidon rolled his eyes.

**Now, a god cannot usurp another god's symbol of power directly—that is forbidden by the most ancient of divine laws. But Zeus believes your father convinced a human hero to take it."**

**"But I didn't—"**

"There's no proof that you didn't," Zeus declared haughtily. Poseidon glared at him.

**"Patience and listen, child," Chiron said. "Zeus has good reason to be suspicious. The forges of the Cyclopes are under the ocean, which gives Poseidon some influence over the makers of his brother's lightning. Zeus believes Poseidon has taken the master bolt, and is now secretly having the Cyclopes build an arsenal of illegal copies, which might be used to topple Zeus from his throne.**

"That's ridiculous." Athena scoffed.

"Hey, it could happen!" Zeus clarified that, yes, he would believe this. It was quite obvious very little has changed about him in the past years.

**The only thing Zeus wasn't sure about was which hero Poseidon used to steal the bolt. Now Poseidon has openly claimed you as his son. You were in New York over the winter holidays. You could easily have snuck into Olympus. Zeus believes he has found his thief."**

"Oh, Brother, your wisdom _astounds_ me!" Poseidon exclaimed, sarcasm dripping.

**"But I've never even been to Olympus! Zeus is crazy!"**

"_Watch your tongue_,_ child_!" Zeus exclaimed and thunder rumbled through New York. "How dare she?! The never of that sea-brat!"

"She's your daughter all right." Athena rolled her eyes.

**Chiron and Grover glanced nervously at the sky. The clouds didn't seem to be parting around us, as Grover had promised. They were rolling straight over our valley, sealing us in like a coffin lid.**

"Very nice description." Hades chuckled.

"Anything related to death is always satisfying to you," Demeter huffed. "How did Kore put up with you?"

"She's obviously better than you." Was Hades' simple reply.

**"Er, Percy ...?" Grover said. "We don't use the **_**c**_**-word to describe the Lord of the Sky."**

Zeus found himself inclined to agree. But it was sore for him to agree with the satyr that cost his daughter her life.

**"Perhaps **_**paranoid," **_**Chiron suggested. "Then again, Poseidon has tried to unseat Zeus before. I believe that was question thirty-eight on your final exam..." He looked at me as if he actually expected me to remember question thirty-eight.**

**How could anyone accuse me of stealing a god's weapon? I couldn't even steal a slice of pizza from Gabe's poker party without getting busted. Chiron was waiting for an answer.**

"Hear that?" Poseidon mocked.

**"Something about a golden net?" I guessed. "Poseidon and Hera and a few other gods ... they, like, trapped Zeus and wouldn't let him out until he promised to be a better ruler, right?"**

Zeus scowled at all of them.

**"Correct," Chiron said. "And Zeus has never trusted Poseidon since.**

"Nice brother," Hades muttered sarcastically.

**Of course, Poseidon denies stealing the master bolt. He took great offense at the accusation. The two have been arguing back and forth for months, threatening war. And now, you've come along—the proverbial last straw."**

**"But I'm just a kid!"**

"Only means that you're _that much_ easier to manipulate." Zeus threw in. Poseidon scowled but knew he was right.

**"Percy," Grover cut in, "if you were Zeus, and you already thought your brother was plotting to overthrow you, then your brother suddenly admitted he had broken the sacred oath he took after World War II, that he's fathered a new mortal hero who might be used as a weapon against you... Wouldn't that put a twist in your toga?"**

"I don't need that satyr to defend me!" Zeus snapped.

"You sure can hold a grudge." Hermes noted.

"It runs in the family." Hestia remarked dryly, looking teasingly at Hades.

**"But I didn't do anything. Poseidon—my dad**

Poseidon smiled.

—**he didn't really have this master bolt stolen, did he?"**

**Chiron sighed. "Most thinking observers would agree that thievery is not Poseidon's style. But the Sea God is too proud to try convincing Zeus of that. Zeus has demanded that Poseidon return the bolt by the summer solstice. That's June twenty-first, ten days from now. Poseidon wants an apology for himself and you, his daughter, being called a thief by the same date. I hoped that diplomacy might prevail, that Hera or Demeter or Hestia would make the two brothers see sense. But your arrival has inflamed Zeus's temper. Now neither god will back down. Unless someone intervenes, unless the master bolt is found and returned to Zeus before the solstice, there will be war. And do you know what a full-fledged war would look like, Percy?"**

**"Bad?" I guessed.**

"Understatement of the year." Ares was too happy at that.

**"Imagine the world in chaos. Nature at war with itself. Olympians forced to choose sides between Zeus and Poseidon. Destruction. Carnage. Millions dead. Western civilization turned into a battleground so big it will make the Trojan War look like a water-balloon fight."**

Hades moaned. "You guys better not start a war." Imagine all the deaths and troubles that will come!

"I thought you will benefit most from it? All the deaths that come with it." Demeter looked surprised.

Hades waved the question and stares directed at him. Even if he explained, he doubt that they will believe him. They will never trust him, Hades thought bitterly, ever.

**"Bad," I repeated.**

Athena snorted. "Her brain's as slow as your other children."

**"And you, Percy Jackson, would be the first to feel Zeus's wrath."**

"She wouldn't." Poseidon promised. "Not when I'm here."

**It started to rain. Volleyball players stopped their game and stared in stunned silence at the sky.**

_**I **_**had brought this storm to Half-Blood Hill. Zeus was punishing the whole camp because of me. I was furious.**

"Like father...like daughter..." Hestia murmured. "I'm not sure I like that.'

**"So I have to find the stupid bolt," I said. **

"Its not stupid!" Zeus snapped. "Did you or did you not hear what Chiron said of this bolt's history?!"

**"And return it to Zeus."**

**"What better peace offering," Chiron said, "than to have the daughter of Poseidon return Zeus's property?"**

"Would you be satisfied?" Hera asked her husband.

Zeus nodded. "Perhaps." He was already starting to like his niece, though he will die – and that's not happening – before he will admit it.

**"If Poseidon doesn't have it, where is the thing?"**

**"I believe I know." Chiron's expression was grim. "Part of a prophecy I had years ago ... well, some of the lines make sense to me, now. But before I can say more, you must officially take up the quest. You must seek the counsel of the Oracle."**

**"Why can't you tell me where the bolt is beforehand?"**

**"Because if I did, you would be too afraid to accept the challenge."**

"Not telling her isn't going to lessen the danger." Hera snorted.

**I swallowed. "Good reason."**

**"You agree then?"**

**I looked at Grover, who nodded encouragingly.**

Zeus smirked evilly. "Oh please, how will she know that the satyr wouldn't 'accidentally' get caught?"

**Easy for him. I was the one Zeus wanted to kill.**

**"All right," I said. "It's better than being turned into a dolphin."**

"Can't she just swim back to you and you can relieve her of the curse?" Aphrodite asked Poseidon.

He shook his head. "Its not that simple. Undoing a curse cast by another Olympian is harder than you think."

**"Then it's time you consulted the Oracle," Chiron said. "Go upstairs, Percy Jackson, to the attic. When you come back down, assuming you're still sane, we will talk more."**

**Four flights up, the stairs ended under a green trap door.**

Apollo was bouncing in excitement, Percy was going to meet his Oracle.

**I pulled the cord. The door swung down, and a wooden ladder clattered into place.**

**The warm air from above smelled like mildew and rotten wood and something else ... a smell I remembered from biology class. Reptiles. The smell of snakes.**

**I held my breath and climbed.**

**The attic was filled with Greek hero junk: armor stands covered in cobwebs; once-bright shields pitted with rust; old leather steamer trunks plastered with stickers saying ITHAKA, CIRCE'S ISLE, and LAND OF THE AMAZONS. One long table was stacked with glass jars filled with pickled **_**things**_—**severed hairy claws, huge yellow eyes, various other parts of monsters. A dusty mounted trophy on the wall looked like a giant snake's head, but with horns and a full set of shark's teeth. The plaque read, HYDRA HEAD #1, WOODSTOCK, N.Y., 1969.**

**By the window, sitting on a wooden tripod stool, was the most gruesome memento of all: a mummy.**

"She's quite pretty when she was still young." Apollo said.

**Not the wrapped-in-cloth kind, but a human female body shriveled to a husk. She wore a tie-dyed sundress, lots of beaded necklaces, and a headband over long black hair. The skin of her face was thin and leathery over her skull, and her eyes were glassy white slits, as if the real eyes had been replaced by marbles; she'd been dead a long, long time.**

Hera shuddered, "_This_ is your precious Oracle?"

"Yes," Apollo pouted, "She used to be quite beautiful, but she never switched bodies." Hermes glared at this.

**Looking at her sent chills up my back. And that was before she sat up on her stool and opened her mouth. A green mist poured from the mummy's mouth, coiling over the floor in thick tendrils, hissing like twenty thousand snakes. I stumbled over myself trying to get to the trap door, but it slammed shut.**

"Wuss." Ares muttered.

**Inside my head, I heard a voice, slithering into one ear and coiling around my brain: **_**I am the spirit of Delphi, speaker of the prophecies of Phoebes Apollo, slayer of the mighty Python. Approach, seeker, and ask.**_

**I wanted to say, **_**No thanks, wrong door, just looking for the bathroom. **_**But I forced myself to take a deep breath.**

**The mummy wasn't alive. She was some kind of gruesome receptacle for something else, the power that was now swirling around me in the green mist. But its presence didn't feel evil, like my demonic math teacher Mrs. Dodds or the Minotaur. It felt more like the Three Fates I'd seen knitting the yarn outside the highway fruit stand: ancient, powerful, and definitely **_**not **_**human. But not particularly interested in killing me, either.**

The entire council were a bit freaked out, except Apollo of course, who was very use to his Oracle.

**I got up the courage to ask, "What is my destiny?"**

"Way to be vague, cousin." Artemis rolled her eyes.

"That just sounds so cliche." Demeter said.

**The mist swirled more thickly, collecting right in front of me and around the table with the pickled monster-part jars. Suddenly there were four men sitting around the table, playing cards. Their faces became clearer. It was Smelly Gabe and his buddies.**

Poseidon's fists clenched.

**My fists clenched, though I knew this poker party couldn't be real. It was an illusion, made out of mist.**

**Gabe turned toward me and spoke in the rasping voice of the Oracle: **_**You shall go west, and face the god who has turned.**_

**His buddy on the right looked up and said in the same voice: **_**You shall find what was stolen, and see it safely returned.**_

**The guy on the left threw in two poker chips, then said: **_**You shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend.**_

**Finally, Eddie, our building superior, delivered the worst line of all: **_**And you shall fail to save what matters most, in the end.**_

Apollo hummed in thought, trying to decipher the prophecy though he knew it was pointless to do so.

**The figures began to dissolve. At first I was too stunned to say anything, but as the mist retreated, coiling into a huge green serpent and slithering back into the mouth of the mummy, I cried, "Wait! What do you mean? What friend? What will I fail to save?"**

"She won't tell you..." Apollo murmured distractedly.

Hermes snorted softly. He was best friends with Apollo and yet, ironically, he hated prophecies.

**The tail of the mist snake disappeared into the mummy's mouth. She reclined back against the wall. Her mouth closed tight, as if it hadn't been open in a hundred years. The attic was silent again, abandoned, nothing but a room full of mementos.**

**I got the feeling that I could stand here until I had cob webs, too, and I wouldn't learn anything else.**

**My audience with the Oracle was over.**

**"Well?" Chiron asked me.**

**I slumped into a chair at the pinochle table. "She said I would retrieve what was stolen."**

Zeus nodded. Hades sighed in relief. Immense headache and trouble dodged.

**Grover sat forward, chewing excitedly on the remains of a Diet Coke can. "That's great!"**

**"What did the Oracle say **_**exactly?" **_**Chiron pressed. "This is important."**

"_Very_ important, _every word_ she speaks could have a double meaning." Apollo added dreamily.

**My ears were still tingling from the reptilian voice. "She ... she said I would go west and face a god who had turned. I would retrieve what was stolen and see it safely returned."**

**"I knew it," Grover said.**

**Chiron didn't look satisfied. "Anything else?"**

**I didn't want to tell him.**

**What friend would betray me? I didn't have that many.**

**And the last line—I would fail to save what mattered most. What kind of Oracle would send me on a quest and tell me, **_**Oh, by the way, you'll fail**_**.**

"Too true," Hestia muttered. She didn't really understand prophecies much either.

**How could I confess that?**

**"No," I said. "That's about it."**

**He studied my face. "Very well, Percy. But know this: the Oracle's words often have double meanings. Don't dwell on them too much. The truth is not always clear until events come to pass."**

Hera's brow furrowed. "I don't get it." She said.

"Don't get what?" Athena asked, ready to explain.

"Prophecies...aren't Fates, why couldn't a hero change one's fate?" Hera asked. It was a surprisingly good question. "Events come to pass?" She scoffed. "The hero would lose so much once the event had come to pass."

"I agree." Demeter said after a moment of shocked silence.

"I've never thought about it before," Poseidon mused.

"Of course, you didn't." Athena shot back. "Your head's too full of kelp."

"If the hero died, the prophecy has no meaning right?" Hades rubbed his chin. "And most prophecies never tell the hero that he or she will die."

"Of course not!" Apollo agreed. "IF the Oracle did say that. The hero will try to change their own fate by not going on the quest." He quieted when he recalled a certain son of his that has the ability to see the future. The only one that inherited his prophet ability.

"This talk is giving me a headache." Hermes whined.

Dionysus requested for Hephaestus to continue reading.

**I got the feeling he knew I was holding back something bad, and he was trying to make me feel better.**

**"Okay," I said, anxious to change topics. "So where do I go? Who's this god in the west?"**

**"Ah, think, Percy," Chiron said. "If Zeus and Poseidon weaken each other in a war, who stands to gain?"**

Not so subtle glances were thrown at Hades who seemed resigned. "I'm not too surprised..." He muttered. "Prove my innocence, niece."

**"Somebody else who wants to take over?" I guessed.**

**"Yes, quite. Someone who harbors a grudge, who has been unhappy with his lot since the world was divided eons ago, whose kingdom would grow powerful with the deaths of millions. Someone who hates his brothers for forcing him into an oath to have no more children, an oath that both of them have now broken."**

" Hades that really does sound like you." Hestia looked sympathetically at her brother. Hades rolled his eyes but silently, he was glad that Hestia has the decency to admit her thoughts unlike the rest of them who have no balls to admit it right in his face for fear of what he will do.

**I thought about my dreams, the evil voice that had spoken from under the ground. "Hades."**

**Chiron nodded. "The Lord of the Dead is the only possibility."**

"_No_._ I_. _Am_. _Not_!" Hades snarled, fists clenched tightly.

**A scrap of aluminum dribbled out of Grover's mouth. "Whoa, wait. Wh-what?"**

**"A Fury came after Percy," Chiron reminded him. "She watched the young man until she was sure of his identity, then tried to kill him. Furies obey only one lord: Hades."**

**"Yes, but—but Hades hates **_**all **_**heroes," Grover protested. "Especially if he has found out Percy is a son of Poseidon..."**

**"A hellhound got into the forest," Chiron continued.**

**"Those can only be summoned from the Fields of Punishment, and it had to be summoned by someone within the camp. Hades must have a spy here. He must suspect Poseidon will try to use Percy to clear his name. Hades would very much like to kill this young half-blood before he can take on the quest."**

"Like the satyr said earlier, I hate all heroes." Hades reasoned. 'Why would I have a hero as a spy?"

"Who knows, maybe you want to use them to bring shame to their godly parent because said parent did something to offend you?" Athena shrugged.

**"Great," I muttered. "That's two major gods who want to kill me."**

**"But a quest to ..." Grover swallowed. "I mean, couldn't the master bolt be in some place like Maine? Maine's very nice this time of year."**

"Spineless satyr." Zeus mumbled, "_That's_ that attitude that cost me my daughter."

"Does it matter?" Poseidon muttered. "You have so many daughters before Thalia."

"What would you say if the same thing happens to your daughter?"

"Of course I would be angry," Poseidon rolled his eyes. "Percy's my only daughter!"

**"Hades sent a minion to steal the master bolt," Chiron insisted. "He hid it in the Underworld, knowing full well that Zeus would blame Poseidon.** **I don't pretend to under stand the Lord of the Dead's motives perfectly, or why he chose this time to start a war, but one thing is certain. Percy must go to the Underworld, find the master bolt, and reveal the truth."**

"Yes, clear _my_ name in the process, Niece and maybe I wouldn't sic monsters on you." Hades grumbled.

**A strange fire burned in my stomach. The weirdest thing was: it wasn't fear. It was anticipation. The desire for revenge. Hades had tried to kill me three times so far, with the Fury, the Minotaur, and the hellhound. It was his fault my mother had disappeared in a flash of light. Now he was trying to frame me and my dad for a theft we hadn't committed.**

Poseidon smiled, glad that Percy was finally acknowledging him.

**I was ready to take him on.**

"Now, that was foolish." Athena said.

**Besides, if my mother was in the Underworld…**

**Whoa, boy, said the small part of my brain that was still sane. You're a kid. Hades is a god.**

**Grover was trembling. He'd started eating pinochle cards like potato chips.**

**The poor guy needed to complete a quest with me so he could get his searcher's license, whatever that was, but how could I ask him to do this quest, especially when the Oracle said I was destined to fail? This was suicide.**

**"Look, if we know it's Hades," I told Chiron, "why can't we just tell the other gods? Zeus or Poseidon could go down to the Underworld and bust some heads."**

"She's scared." Ares laughed. "And she's trying to weasel her way out! Hah!"

"She's still a child, of course she would be terrified!" Hera – surprisingly – rose to defend Poseidon's daughter, her niece.

Hades, Zeus and Poseidon looked at her as if they had never seen her before.

**"Suspecting and knowing are not the same," Chiron said. "Besides, even if the other gods suspect Hades—and I imagine Poseidon does—**

"Definitely." Poseidon confirmed.

"Wonderful, now I know just how much you love me." Hades rolled his eyes. "Which is non-existent by the way."

Poseidon frowned. "That's not true. I do love you."

"That just sounds so wrong." Demeter made gagging motions.

Aprhodite started giggling madly.

**they couldn't retrieve the bolt themselves. Gods cannot cross each other's territories except by invitation. That is another ancient rule. Heroes, on the other hand, have certain privileges. They can go anywhere, challenge anyone, as long as they're bold enough and strong enough to do it.** **No god can be held responsible for a hero's actions. Why do you think the gods always operate through humans?"**

**"You're saying I'm being used."**

"You are not, daughter." Poseidon muttered

**"I'm saying it's no accident Poseidon has claimed you now. It's a very risky gamble, but he's in a desperate situation. He needs you."**

" I would have claimed her anyway!" Poseidon thundered, but not being Zeus and dramatic enough, no real thunder roll, "I would have claimed her _faster _if it weren't for this situation!"

"We _get it_." Hephaestus grumbled "You _love_ your daughter."

**My dad needs me.**

**Emotions rolled around inside me like bits of glass in a kaleidoscope. I didn't know whether to feel resentful or grateful or happy or angry. Poseidon had ignored me for twelve years. Now suddenly he needed me.**

"I _had_ to ignore you." Poseidon mumbled miserably.

**I looked at Chiron. "You've known I was Poseidon's daughter all along, haven't you?"**

**"I had my suspicions. As I said ... I've spoken to the Oracle, too."**

**I got the feeling there was a lot he wasn't telling me about his prophecy, but I decided I couldn't worry about that right now. After all, I was holding back information too.**

"**What hold you back from telling me if you knew?" I asked, sounding kinda vague but I knew he understood.**

"**Lord Poseidon never had a daughter before." Chiron didn't disappoint. "The possibility that he might not is high, that's why I doubted you were his. After the water display in school, my suspicions rose but there was the possibility you might be a minor water gods' daughter." He smiled grimly. "It also enhances the belief that you're not the lightning thief."**

"**How?'**

"**Poseidon wouldn't risk his first daughter for such a dangerous job."**

Poseidon nodded. 'True."

**Then his face turned grim. "This shows just how desperate he really is. I doubt he will risk you for anything but now he needs you the most."**

**"So let me get this straight," I said. "I'm supposed go to the Underworld and confront the Lord of the Dead."**

**"Check," Chiron said.**

**"Find the most powerful weapon in the universe."**

**"Check."**

**"And get it back to Olympus before the summer solstice, in ten days."**

**"That's about right."**

**I looked at Grover, who gulped down the ace of hearts.**

**"Did I mention that Maine is very nice this time of year?" he asked weakly.**

**"You don't have to go," I told him. "I can't ask that of you."**

"Your daughter is so sweet, Poseidon." Demeter commented.

**"Oh..." He shifted his hooves. "No... it's just that satyrs and underground places... well..."**

**He took a deep breath, then stood, brushing the shredded cards and aluminum bits off his T-shirt. "You saved my life, Percy. If ... if you're serious about wanting me along, I won't let you down."**

**I felt so relieved I wanted to cry,** **though I didn't think that would be very heroic.**

The gods chuckled at this.

**Grover was the only friend I'd ever had for longer than a few months. I wasn't sure what good a satyr could do against the forces of the dead, but I felt better knowing he'd be with me.**

**"All the way, G-man." I turned to Chiron. "So where do we go? The Oracle just said to go west."**

**"The entrance to the Underworld is always in the west. It moves from age to age, just like Olympus. Right now, of course, it's in America."**

**"Where?"**

**Chiron looked surprised. "I thought that would be obvious enough. The entrance to the Underworld is in Los Angeles."**

**"Oh," I said. "Naturally. So we just get on a plane—"**

"Oh _please_ do." Zeus chuckled.

**"No!" Grover shrieked. "Percy, what are you thinking? Have you ever been on a plane in your life?"**

"No, she definitely hasn't, Sally is smarter than that." Poseidon said with absolute confidence.

**I shook my head, feeling embarrassed. My mom had never taken me anywhere by plane. She'd always said we didn't have the money. Besides, her parents had died in a plane crash.**

**"Percy, think," Chiron said. "You are the daughter of the Sea God. Your father's bitterest rival is Zeus, Lord of the Sky. Your mother knew better than to trust you in an airplane. You would be in Zeus's domain. You would never come down again alive."**

Zeus coughed something that sounded suspiciously like: "Damn, lost my chance to get rid of a huge pain the ass."

**"Gee," I said, feigning surprise. "Who else would be stupid enough to volunteer for a quest like this?"**

**The air shimmered behind Chiron.**

**Annabeth became visible, stuffing her Yankees cap into her back pocket.**

Poseidon rolled his eyes.

**"I've been waiting a long time for a quest, Seaweed Brain,"**

Athena's head shot up and a smirk spread across her lips.

"_Damn_." Poseidon cursed.

"My daughter is so brilliant." Athena sneered.

**she said. "Athena is no fan of Poseidon, but if you're going to save the world, I'm the best person to keep you from messing up."**

**"If you do say so yourself," I said. "I suppose you have a plan, Wise Girl?"**

"Yes, _Wise Girl_, your daughter better have a plan." Poseidon smirked at Athena who rolled her eyes.

**Her cheeks colored. "Do you want my help or not?"**

**The truth was, I did. I needed all the help I could get.**

**"A trio," I said. "That'll work."**

**"Excellent," Chiron said. "This afternoon, we can take you as far as the bus terminal in Manhattan. After that, you are on your own."**

"I am so worried." Poseidon moaned. 'Can't a few others go on this?"

"Just for one daughter of yours?" Apollo asked. "I don't think even my sons will leap at the chance to woo your daughter."

"What about his son?" Poseidon jabbed a thumb in Hermes' direction.

"He wouldn't want to go after what happened last time on his quest."

**Lightning flashed. Rain poured down on the meadows that were never supposed to have violent weather.**

Dionysus sighed at this. "wonderful, all the works gone to waste."

**"No time to waste," Chiron said. "I think you should all get packing."**

"That's it," Hephaestus said. He was about to hand the book to Hera when a blinding flash of light interrupted them.

Shrieks and yells were heard as six figures came tumbling down. Two of them held out their hands and instantly, water from the fountain cushioned their fall. But it didn't slow them down or drained the impact. The gods and goddesses watched, fascinated and surprised as they landed.

"Get off me – oof, you're damn heavy!" A muffled female's voice yelled. Poseidon's eyes zeroed in on the pair of boy and girl. The girl and boy groaned loudly, and moved to untangle their limbs from one another. Identical sea-green eyes looked around in confusion.

Zeus stared blankly at the girl and boy that landed near him. The two were doing quite a lot of swearing and...was that electric blue eyes?

Icy blue eyes squeezed shut and was reopened again. Hermes' jaw dropped when he saw who it was.

A dark-haired and eyes boy groaned loudly. He was the first one on his feet. Hades stared at him as if he was seeing a ghost.

The Olympian council – plus Hestia and Hades watched, jaw on the ground at the arrival of the six.

A note fluttered onto the table.

* * *

A/N; Can anyone guess who has been sent back? :P

Oh, and vote in my profile as to who should be the prophecy's child. Its for my other story, Daughter Of Time.


	10. Chapter 10

**Genre:** Romance/Family

**Rated: **T

**Pairing(s):** Fem!Percy/Luke. Annabeth/Ethan. One-sided Annabeth/Luke. Thalia/Leo. Jason/Reyna.

**Summary:** AU. Percy and Luke make a good couple in my opinion. So I tweaked it a little because M/M isn't something I'm very good at writing. Percy's personality will be the same. What would happen if the gods read the books before they knew of Percy?

**Setting**: This starts on the day after Thalia is turned into her tree. So the ages are as below:

Percy: 7

Luke: 14

Annabeth: 7

**Disclaimer:** I do not own **Percy Jackson and the Olympians**

**Warning(s):** AU(Seeing as Percy's female) Obviously there will be spoilers to the books. Also I'm sorry if there are any grammar or spelling mistakes, please forgive me!

P.S: There are going to be a lot of changes later in the story. Piper won't be with Jason – Reyna will be joining them on the quest. And Thalia will get involved somehow.

* * *

Chapter 10 :

With great difficulty, as the Olympians see it, the sea-green eyed girl managed to kick the male of her. She was gasping for breath by the time she was done.

"Who are you?" She groaned.

"That hurts, lady." The sixteen-year-old looking boy snapped.

"Percy!" The blonde man with blue eyes snapped to her, concerned filling his eyes. He jogged towards her, ignoring the Olympians' stare. "Are you okay?"

Percy – for it had to be her – nodded. "Watch out!" The blonde man shoved her out of the way just as people once more came tumbling out of the ceiling.

"Is it me or is it raining brats?" Dionysus asked, baffled.

"Luke?" Hermes asked in disbelief, gazing at the older version of his son and the one currently his son's age. They were both his son. "Why on earth are there two Lukes?"

"Percy?" Poseidon leaned forward, peering at the older version of his daughter and his young daughter.

"Can someone please explain?" Demeter asked. "Who're you?"

"Oooh – that hurts, all I remember is a blinding flash of light claiming me when I was taking a walk with Andromeda." The man – no boy that looked no older than fifteen – said. He looked at Zeus. "Father, care to explain?"

The black haired girl that looked like Zeus and wearing the Lieutenant of Artemis' circlet gawked at him. "Who're you?"

Artemis' eyes narrowed upon seeing the mark indicating that Zoe was no longer her Lieutenant.

"That's just what she said." The boy Hades was looking at so intently said, gesturing to Demeter. "Oh, it's just so bright. So not good for a child of Hades."

"You broke the oath!" Zeus whirled on Hades.

"Don't be ridiculous, these kids fell from the sky and you're accusing me of something I didn't do?" Hades was incredulous at his brother's attitude.

"Enough!" Hera snapped. She turned on the heroes. "Tell us who you are."

"You don't know us?" The younger version of Luke looked outraged. He rolled his eyes. "Oh what was I expecting?"

"That they recognize you?" A seven-year-old blonde girl suggested, Athena realized that it was her daughter.

When Annabeth spoke, all attention turned to her. Or more specifically, the older versions of the Olympians children.

"Annabeth?" Percy asked, disbelief and hatred laced her tone. "You've shrunk?"

"Introduce yourself!" Hera shrieked. "Don't ignore me!"

The self-proclaimed child of Hades snorted. "Talk about anger management issues."

The Lieutenant of Artemis elbowed him and hissed, "Do you want to die?" then stepped forward. "I'm Thalia Grace, daughter of Zeus, Lieutenant of Artemis. And before you bombard us with questions, let them introduce themselves first." She meant the older looking kids. Little Annabeth gasped upon seeing her and ran to hug her but Thalia stepped aside and looked at her as if she was a plague that she must avoid.

"Perseus, son of Zeus." The boy that had landed on Thalia said. "I thought I was supposed to be dead?"

"You _are_ dead." Annabeth murmured. Perseus looked offended.

"Moving on, I'm Luke Castellan." The blonde man said only to be interrupted by his younger version.

"That's impossible! I _am _Luke."

"What year is it?" The son of Hades interrupted. "And by the way, the name's Nico di Angelo. Born about seventy years ago so dad didn't broke the oath."

"The year is 1998," Hades replied numbly. He wanted to ask where his favorable daughter is but he was too tongue-tied.

"We're in the past?" Percy summed it up. "Great. Always me, the unlucky daughter of Poseidon, Percy Jackson. Famous for her bad luck.'

Small Percy stared dumb-founded, at her older self. "Are you my older sister?"

"No, I'm your future-self. From the future." Older Percy corrected. So I'll call you P.j – short for junior Percy."

"You suck at naming." Nico muttered.

"Ignoring her, I'm Thesus, son of Poseidon." He cringed slightly when Dionysus glowered murderously at him.

"What's the situation?" Athena asked.

"Trapped in the past." Percy muttered.

"We know that! What's happening in the future that you all came back?"

"We're about to go on a quest for Daedalus you see, into the Labyrinth." Luke replied, frowning that Athena had snapped at Percy. Aphrodite who had noticed this squealed.

"Daedalus?" Hephaestus asked. "Why?"

"Uh..." Speechless, they turned to look at little Annabeth. "We need him to uh, stop helping our enemies."

"Who?" Zeus asked.

"Kronos and his top minion." Thalia replied.

"His top minion is?" Athena asked.

"Err..." Once more, people from the future were speechless, trying to look at anything but Annabeth. Athena noticed this immediately of course.

"You'll find out sooner or later anyways." Thalia tried to act nonchalant by shrugging.

"There's something you're not telling us, sky spawn. Spill it." Hera spat.

Thalia glared at her but Zeus beat her to saying anything. "Hera, I do _not_ appreciate you snapping at _my children_."

"He _grew_ a backbone? Since when?" Percy's jaw dropped.

A tense silence dropped upon them, everyone staring at Percy in shock; lightning crackled. "What did you say, sea spawn?"

"That you-" Luke hastily covered her mouth.

"Nothing!"

"So, err," Theseus, trying to save his sister from the future said. "What're you guys doing before we interrupted."

"Oh," Hestia joined in on her nephew's attempt to diffuse the tension. "We're reading some books about Percy's adventures."

"Really?" Percy had finally managed to slapped Luke's hand away. Not noticing the glare Poseidon was giving Luke for touching his daughter even though it had saved her from being fried. "Till where?"

"We've just started." Artemis said. "You must be from around the time of Battle of the Labyrinth."

"Can we read that first?" Thalia suggested. "That way, we can be prepared."

"For what?"

"What's to come."

"True, but we'll be confused." Poseidon argued.

"What if we suddenly got transported back to where we were formerly?" Luke challenged. "We might loose precious information that may saved camp."

"From what?" Perseus asked.

"You'll see." Nico answered vaguely.

"Not to worry about that," Theseus suddenly announced. The demigods crowded around him to read the note. It says:

"You'll return to where you once was,

Once the book is finished,

You'll work together for the future that was,

Once razed and doomed."

"Shall we continue then?" Hermes suggested, eyeing his older version of his son curiously. The words of May resounded in his ears, of his son's fate. He was glad that he at least got to see Luke this old and healthy.

"Doing what?" P.J asked.

Poseidon smiled softly at his younger daughter but didn't dare to admit that he was her father. "Reading those books." He pointed at the book in Hera's hands.

P.J cocked her head to the side as she inspected the man who looked so much like her. "About big sis?"

"Er, who?" Theseus looked around. "I don't see your big sister."

"Oh, we can tell who's child you are." Dionysus muttered.

"Is it that hard to tell in the first place?" Percy asked.

"Shut it, Prissy Johnson."

"Hey!"

"Reading here!" Hera snapped.

"Can you give us chairs?" Nico wisely – or not so smartly – suggested.

"Can't you sit on the floor?" Demeter asked.

"How rude is that?" Hestia countered. With a snap of her fingers, a large sofa appeared for the demigods.

The demigods from the future avoided Annabeth. Young Luke sat squashed between P.J and Annabeth. Percy sat beside her younger version and to her other side was Luke. Beside him was Thalia, who sat beside Theseus Perseus sat between him and Nico.

"Right," Hera muttered. 'Let's start."

* * *

A/N; Yeah, sorry for the short chapter. But short is better than none at all right?

I kinda lost inspiration but I'll try to update next year. Review?


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N; Some of you said that adding the ancient heroes is pointless and confusing. I want to tell you that the ancient heroes play an important role in this story. How? You'll find out in... The Last Olympian I think. Now, for the story... **

**P.S: In this chap, you'll notice that this'll diverse from book-verse. I'm planning on writing the movie-verse with some book-verse in it.**

* * *

**Chapter 10: I RUIN A PERFECTLY GOOD BUS.**

* * *

Poseidon winced once he heard the title of the chapter. "Why are you so destructive?"

Percy rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "I'm your daughter..."

"Child of the Earthshaker." Perseus rolled his eyes. "You're one to talk, uncle."

"Hey!"

**It didn't take me long to pack. I decided to leave the Minotaur horn in my cabin, **

Perseus raised an eyebrow. "You defeated the Minotaur?"

Theseus slung an arm over his sister's shoulders, ignoring Older Luke's scorching glare.

**which left me only an extra change of clothes and a toothbrush to stuff in a backpack Grover had found for me.**

"At least he tried to help before he died." Zeus said sympathetically.

"What makes you think he died?" Nico asked, pointedly ignoring Percy.

Hades and Poseidon noticed how the son of Hades was giving the daughter of Poseidon the cold shoulder but didn't pry.

**The camp store loaned me one hundred dollars in mortal money and twenty golden drachmas. **

"O-oh –" Luke said, a look of realization dawning on his face. "So that's where I can steal money." He whipped out his notebook – that Percy gave him as his birthday present – and started making notes.

Hermes smiled proudly at his son.

Which made Little Luke jealous, before he realized that he was jealous of himself. Was he going crazy?

**These coins were as big as Girl Scout cookies and had images of various Greek gods stamped on one side and the Empire State Building on the other. The ancient mortal drachmas had been silver, Chiron told us, but Olympians never used less than pure gold**.

"Talk about greedy," Annabeth muttered.

**Chiron said the coins might come in handy for non-mortal transactions—whatever that meant. He gave Annabeth and me each a canteen of nectar and a Ziploc bag full of ambrosia squares, to be used only in emergencies, if we were seriously hurt. It was god food, Chiron reminded us. It would cure us of almost any injury, but it was lethal to mortals. Too much of it would make a half-blood very, very feverish. An overdose would burn us up, literally.**

Dionysus again chuckled.

**Annabeth was bringing her magic Yankees cap, which she told me had been a twelfth-birthday present from her mom.**

"Really?" Annabeth asked in disbelief. "You'll really give me something?"

Athena frowned. "Why wouldn't I? You're my daughter..."

The half-bloods from the future looked at the ground, not willing to say anything.

**She carried a book on famous classical architecture, written in Ancient Greek, to read when she got bored, and a long bronze knife, hidden in her shirt sleeve. I was sure the knife would get us busted the first time we went through a metal detector.**

Athena opened her mouth but Theseus glared at her, "She's still new."

P.J looked at Theseus in awe. "Are you my big brother?"

"He is." Dionysus said. "You two must have been so similar."

Theseus flinched. "I didn't abandon Adrianne without a good reason –"

"Mr. D!" Percy yelled in protest the moment she saw Dionysus' eyes flared with purple fire – filled with rage.

"Continue!" Zeus said.

**Grover wore his fake feet and his pants to pass as human. He wore a green rasta-style cap, because when it rained his curly hair flattened and you could just see the tips of his horns. His bright orange backpack was full of scrap metal and apples to snack on. In his pocket was a set of reed pipes his daddy goat had carved for him, even though he only knew two songs: Mozart's Piano Concerto no. 12 and Hilary Duff's "So Yesterday," both of which sounded pretty bad on reed pipes.**

Theseus grimaced and was about to say something but P.J beat him to it. "Sis, why didn't you chose someone better? Like him for example?" she gestured to both Lukes.

Little Luke nodded vigorously. "Yeah. He got Thalia killed."

"True." Zeus muttered.

"He didn't, guys! I chose to sacrifice myself." Thalia protested.

"Whatever," Hera rolled her eyes and continued reading.

**We waved good-bye to the other campers, took one last look at the strawberry fields, the ocean, and the Big House, then hiked up Half-Blood Hill to the tall pine tree that used to be Thalia, daughter of Zeus.**

Zeus looked intently at Thalia to make sure she was really there. Perseus noticed this and felt slightly jealous before he remembered that he'd lived a wonderful – albeit dangerous – life but his younger sister had no such guarenteed life as a Huntress.

**Chiron was waiting for us in his wheelchair. Next to him stood the surfer dude I'd seen when I was recovering in the sick room. According to Grover, the guy was the camp's head of security. He supposedly had eyes all over his body so he could never be surprised. Today, though, he was wearing a chauffeur's uniform, so I could only see extra peepers on his hands, face and neck.**

**"This is Argus," Chiron told me. "He will drive you into the city, and, er, well, keep an eye on things."**

"_Nice_ pun, Chiron." Zeus rolled his eyes.

**For some reason, Annabeth kept looking around, as if there would be someone coming to us.**

"**Who're you looking for?" I asked out of curiosity.**

"**Have you seen Ethan or Luke?"**

**My eyebrows rose. "Ethan? I saw him in the training arena. I didn't see Luke though." I frowned at that. I sorta expected him to be here with us. And tried not to feel too disappointed when it was time for us to leave and yet, he didn't come.**

Aphrodite wolf-whistled. "Are you two sure you're just _best friends_?"

"Positive." Theseus said, tightening his arms around Percy and P.J.

_If he weren't her half-brother, I'll kill him ages ago_, Luke grumbled but didn't voice the thought.

**Before I could follow, Chiron caught my arm. "I should have trained you better, Percy," he said. "If only I had more time. Hercules, Jason—they all got more training."**

Theseus and Poseidon grumbled. "Why can't someone else go instead of big sis?" P.J whined and the sea god and his son felt inclined to agree.

"Like who?"

"Luke." P.J said.

"Oh wonderful," Theseus said, rolling his eyes when he saw little Luke blush. "I don't approve of him at all."

"You think I'm happy, son?"

**"That's okay. I just wish—"**

**I stopped myself because I was about to sound like a brat. I was wishing my dad had given me a cool magic item to help on the quest, something as good as Luke's flying shoes which he'd shown me earlier, or Annabeth's invisible cap.**

"Heroes, they are so greedy." Hera mused.

"Well we aren't gods," Perseus contradicted. "We can't do everything without help."

Hera threw him a glare that could freeze fire but Thalia looked at her older brother in awe.

**"What am I thinking?" Chiron cried. "I can't let you get away without this."**

"What's it?" Annabeth asked.

No one answered.

**He pulled a pen from his coat pocket and handed it to me. It was an ordinary disposable ballpoint, black ink, removable cap. Probably cost thirty cents.**

"Talk about stingy," Annabeth deflated.

**"Gee," I said. "Thanks."**

**"Percy, that's a gift from your father. I've kept it for years, not knowing you were who I was waiting for. But the prophecy is clear to me now. You are the one."**

**I remembered the field trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, when I'd vaporized Mrs. Dodds. Chiron had thrown me a pen that turned into a sword. Could this be...?**

**I took off the cap, and the pen grew longer and heavier in my hand. In half a second, I held a shimmering bronze sword with a double-edged blade, a leather-wrapped grip, and a flat hilt riveted with gold studs. It was the first weapon that actually felt balanced in my hand.**

**"The sword has a long and tragic history that we need not go into," Chiron told me.**

"_Thank you_!" Ares exclaimed, glad he would not have to hear the story that he knew by heart.

"But we don't know about it," Perseus grumbled.

Artemis toss him a glare that could've put Hera's to shame. "Why don't you ask your descendant?"

"Who?"

"Heracles." Theseus helpfully told Perseus, a friend he met in Elysium. "He's not very nice though. Got cursed multiple times by Hera."

"Serves him right." Percy and Luke and Thalia agreed.

Theseus didn't miss how the son of Hades would glower at his sister whenever she spoke. He had a feeling that if they hadn't been there, he would've run her through with his sword.

**"Its name is Anaklusmos."**

**"'Riptide,'" I translated, surprised the Ancient Greek came so easily.**

"Its hard-wired into your brain." Artemis commented.

"Who doesn't know?"

**"Use it only for emergencies," Chiron said, "and only against monsters. No hero should harm mortals unless absolutely necessary, of course, but this sword wouldn't harm them in any case."**

**I looked at the wickedly sharp blade. "What do you mean it wouldn't harm mortals?" How could it not?**

**"The sword is celestial bronze. Forged by the Cyclopes, tempered in the heart of Mount Etna, cooled in the River Lethe. It's deadly to monsters, to any creature from the Underworld, provided they don't kill you first. But the blade will pass through mortals like an illusion. They simply are not important enough for the blade to kill. And I should warn you: as a demigod, you can be killed by either celestial or normal weapons. You are **_**twice **_**as vulnerable."**

"You are just a _ray_ of sunshine, Chiron." Poseidon stated rolling his eyes, he hated that Chiron kept reminded him of the child's vulnerability.

"Take a dive in the River Styx and you'll be –"

"Not entirely invincible," Perseus gently interrupted Nico. "One stab to the mortal point and you're as good as dead even though the cut isn't made to kill."

"That's the only weakness." Luke said.

"It sucks." Little Luke agreed.

**"Good to know."**

**"Now recap the pen."**

**I touched the pen cap to the sword tip and instantly Riptide shrank to a ballpoint pen again. I tucked it in my pocket, a little nervous, because I was famous for losing pens at school.**

"Well, then its a good thing you can't lose this one." Ares stated.

**"You can't," Chiron said.**

**"Can't what?"**

**"Lose the pen," he said. "It is enchanted. It will always reappear in your pocket. Try it."**

**I was wary, but I threw the pen as far as I could down the hill and watched it disappear in the grass.**

**"It may take a few moments," Chiron told me. "Now check your pocket."**

**Sure enough, the pen was there.**

**"Okay, that's **_**extremely **_**cool," I admitted. "But what if a mortal sees me pulling out a sword?"**

Everyone sighed. Not wanting to hear an explanation of something they knew by heart.

**Chiron smiled. "Mist is a powerful thing, Percy."**

**"Mist?"**

**"Yes. Read **_**The Iliad. **_**It's full of references to the stuff. Whenever divine or monstrous elements mix with the mortal world, they generate Mist, which obscures the vision of humans.**

"Ah, such a useful tool." Artemis mused happily.

Apollo snorted. "You didn't even count on Mist. You turned whoever saw you into something else."

"Typical of the gods." Annabeth scoffed quietly.

"Annabeth?" little Luke asked, bewildered to hear the amount of bitterness in her voice.

**You will see things just as they are, being a half-blood, but humans will interpret things quite differently. Remarkable, really, the lengths to which humans will go to fit things into their version of reality."**

**I put Riptide back in my pocket.**

**For the first time, the quest felt real. I was actually leaving Half-Blood Hill. I was heading west with no adult supervision, no backup plan, not even a cell phone. (Chiron said cell phones were traceable by monsters; if we used one, it would be worse than sending up a flare.) I had no weapon stronger than a sword to fight off monsters and reach the Land of the Dead.**

"You're such an optimist, Percy." Demeter stated.

**"Chiron ..." I said. "When you say the gods are immortal... I mean, there was a time **_**before **_**them, right?"**

"_Here_ we go" Zeus rolled his eyes.

"I don't want to hear this rubbish," Hermes grumbled.

**"Four ages before them, actually. The Time of the Titans was the Fourth Age, sometimes called the Golden Age,**

The gods and goddesses of Olympus scoffed at the idea.

**which is definitely a misnomer. This, the time of Western civilization and the rule of Zeus, is the Fifth Age."**

**"So what was it like ... before the gods?"**

**Chiron pursed his lips. "Even I am not old enough to remember that, child, but I know it was a time of darkness and savagery for mortals. Kronos, the lord of the Titans, called his reign the Golden Age because men lived innocent and free of all knowledge. But that was mere propaganda. The Titan king cared nothing for your kind except as appetizers or a source of cheap entertainment. It was only in the early reign of Lord Zeus, when Prometheus the good Titan brought fire to mankind,that your species began to progress, and even then Prometheus was branded a radical thinker. Zeus punished him severely, as you may recall. Of course, eventually the gods warmed to humans, and Western civilization was born."**

"_Thank you _for the history lesson, Chiron." Ares rolled his eyes.

"All of us know that we didn't need anymore of those." Hades said.

**"But the gods can't die now, right? I mean, as long as Western civilization is alive, they're alive. So ... even if I failed, nothing could happen so bad it would mess up **_**everything, **_**right?"**

"Poor child, it must be hard to have the weight of the world upon one's shoulders." Hestia mused. Her fellow Olympians nodded.

**Chiron gave me a melancholy smile. "No one knows how long the Age of the West will last, Percy. The gods are immortal, yes. But then, so were the Titans.**_**They **_**still exist, locked away in their various prisons, forced to endure endless pain and punishment, reduced in power, but still very much alive. May the Fates forbid that the gods should ever suffer such a doom, or that we should ever return to the darkness and chaos of the past. All we can do, child, is follow our destiny."**

**"Our destiny ... assuming we know what that is."**

**"Relax," Chiron told me. "Keep a clear head. And remember, you may be about to prevent the biggest war in human history."**

**"Relax," I said. "I'm very relaxed."**

"So it would seem." Theseus laughed.

**When I got to the bottom of the hill, I looked back. Under the pine tree that used to be Thalia, daughter of Zeus, Chiron was now standing in full horse-man form, holding his bow high in salute. Just your typical summer-camp send-off by your typical centaur.**

The gods and goddesses of Olympus chuckled in harmony.

**I got into the van, expecting to see Argus but the shock of blonde hair and icy blue eyes that greeted me nearly made me tumble out of the van.**

"Could it be...?" everyone turned to look at Older Luke who smirked cheekily.

"_**Luke?**_**" I was baffled. "What are you doing here?"**

"Good question. You're breaking the rules." Dionysus said.

"For one girl," Aphrodite giggled. "It's worth it."

"**Shh," Luke whispered, putting a finger to his lips as he pulled me inside the van. "I'm driving the van."**

"**I suppose you won't just be sending us off?" Annabeth sighed.**

"**I hope not," Grover muttered hopefully. "We need all the help we can get."**

"Of course, you're useless." Zeus said and Poseidon nodded.

Percy blinked. "I expected that from Uncle Zeus, but dad...?"

"After what happened to my niece," Poseidon shot Thalia a look. "I don't trust the satyr with your safety."

"**What about Argus?" I asked.**

"Yes," Hera agreed venomously. "where is he?"

"You'll see." Thalia said.

**Luke waved his hand, indicating me to sit beside him before he handed me a map. "I knocked him out, he'll be up in a few hours... hopefully Chiron won't murder me for this."**

"He would?" P.J asked, jaw dropped.

"I was just exaggerating."

**I snickered.**

"**So... where do we go?" Annabeth asked.**

"**Well... chief?" Luke asked jokingly.**

"**Western Long Island."**

**It felt weird to be on a highway again, Annabeth and Grover sitting next to me as if we were normal carpoolers. After two weeks at Half-Blood Hill, the real world seemed like a fantasy. I found myself staring at every McDonald's, every kid in the back of his parents' car, every billboard and shopping mall.**

**"So far so good," I told my friends. "Ten miles and not a single monster."**

The Olympian court groaned.

Percy grinned sheepishly. "Sorry."

"You'll die even before your quest truly started?" Theseus groaned, rubbing his forehead.

Dionysus glared at the hero. He couldn't believe Theseus actually cared about his sister when he'd cruelly dumped Adrianne.

**Annabeth gave me an irritated look. "It's bad luck to talk that way, Seaweed Brain."**

**"Remind me again—why do you hate me so much?"**

"**I want to know too," Luke said.**

**"I don't hate you."**

"You _should_ hate her, Annabeth." Athena stated.

"I already do," Annabeth responded haughitly.

**"Could've fooled me."**

**She folded her cap of invisibility. "Look ... we're just not supposed to get along, okay? Our parents are rivals."**

**"Why?"**

**She sighed. "How many reasons do you want? One time my mom caught Poseidon with his girlfriend in Athena's temple, which is **_**hugely **_**disrespectful.** **Another time, Athena and Poseidon competed to be the patron god for the city of Athens. Your dad created some stupid saltwater spring for his gift."**

"It wasn't _stupid_!" Poseidon thundered.

Theseus and Percy quickly agreed.

"**That's ancient history." Luke said but both me and Annabeth ignored him. Our parent's idgnity are on the line here.**

"You would most likely have won, if you would have made a _fresh_ water spring instead," Athena rolled her eyes.

**My mom created the olive tree. The people saw that her gift was better, so they named the city after her."**

"It wasn't _better_!" Poseidon grumbled.

"They probably didn't even _like_ the olive tree." Hermes mused.

"Yeah, they probably just thought that Athens was a better name then 'Poseidania', or 'Poseidopolous'." Apollo shrugged.

"_No_! They liked my olive tree!" Athena exclaimed. "It's resourceful. If they'd learn to –"

"Whatever." Almost everyone in the room chorused.

"No I think Apollo and Hermes are right." Poseidon smirked and Athena scoffed rolling her eyes.

**"They must really like olives."**

**"Oh, forget it."**

**"Now, if she'd invented pizza—**_**that **_**I could understand." Luke interjected.**

"**Yeah!" I piped up.**

Everyone chuckled, Poseidon could barely wipe the grin off his face, as Athena and Annabeth fumed.

**"I said, forget it!"**

**Traffic slowed us down in Queens. By the time we got into Manhattan it was sunset and starting to rain. Luke stopped the van at the Greyhound Station on the Upper East Side, not far from my mom and Gabe's apartment. Taped to a mailbox was a soggy flyer with my picture on it: HAVE YOU SEEN THIS GIRL?**

**I ripped it down before Luke, Annabeth and Grover could notice.**

**Luke and Grover unloaded our bags, made sure we got our bus tickets, then we started our journey. I thought about how close I was to my old apartment. On a normal day, my mom would be home from the candy store by now. Smelly Gabe was probably up there right now, playing poker, not even missing her.**

Poseidon growled, "This vermin, shouldn't be able to call Sally his wife."

"I haven't heard of him but I already hate him," Perseus said. "Is that right?"

"You haven't even met him," Luke said darkly, bitterly.

"You nearly killed him, Luke." Percy muttered.

Theseus, Poseidon and everyone that heard it frowned.

**Grover shouldered his backpack. He gazed down the street in the direction I was looking. "You want to know why she married him, Percy?"**

**I stared at him. "Were you reading my mind or some thing?"**

**"Just your emotions." Luke shrugged. "Guess I forgot to tell you satyrs can do that."**

"**You were thinking about your mom and your stepdad, right?" Grover added.**

**I nodded, wondering what else Grover and Luke might've forgotten to tell me.**

**"Your mom married Gabe for **_**you," **_**Grover told me. "You call him 'Smelly,' but you've got no idea. The guy has this aura…. Yuck. I can smell him from here. I can smell traces of him on you, and you haven't been near him for a week."**

Hera shuddered.

"Is there really anyone so repulsively human?" Annabeth asked.

"Probably." Nico muttered.

**"Thanks," I said. "Where's the nearest shower?"**

Poseidon smiled, shaking his head, he adored this girl.

**"You should be grateful, Percy. Your stepfather smells so repulsively human he could mask the presence of any demigod. As soon as I took a whiff inside his Camaro, I knew: Gabe has been covering your scent for years. If you hadn't lived with him every summer, you probably would've been found by monsters a long time ago.**

"He did one good thing, though unintentional, in his entire pathetic life." Poseidon growled, but his usefulness would soon be through and Poseidon would extract his revenge, _personally_.

"If I can, dad, let me help you murder that man." Theseus volunteered.

"Oh, don't forget me." Thalia said. "I'm gonna –"

"Why would you defend the daughter of Poseidon?" Zeus asked, rather curious as to Percy's and Thalia's relationship.

"Are you two lovers?" Perseus jokingly asked.

Dead silence reigned in on them.

"What?" Luke nearly shrieked.

"No!" Percy and Thalia shouted in unison. "Don't talk rubbish!"

"It was just a joke!" Perseus whined.

"It ain't funny." Theseus snapped. "I'll never be able to see my blonde haired green eyes nephews and nieces then."

Luke choked on his own spit while Aprhodite winked suggestively.

**Your mom stayed with him to protect you. She was a smart lady. She must've loved you a lot to put up with that guy—if that makes you feel any better."**

**It didn't, but I forced myself not to show it.**

**I'll see her again, I thought. She isn't gone.**

**I wondered if Grover could still read my emotions, mixed up as they were. I was glad he and Annabeth were with me, but I felt guilty that I hadn't been straight with them. I hadn't told them the real reason I'd said yes to this crazy quest.**

"Your mother." Athena whispered softly.

**The truth was, I didn't care about retrieving Zeus's lightning bolt,**

"You _should_ care about that, girl." Zeus grumbled.

"Mother's the first in her heart," Hera murmured softly. "Why can' t you two be like her?" this was adressed to Hepheastus and Ares.

Percy blushed at the compliment.

**or saving the world, or even helping my father out of trouble.**

Poseidon winced at this, he adored his child so much, yet because of Zeus' _stupid_ rule, Percy didn't know it. He looked at her now and saw that Percy was looking at him apologectically.

"I have a useless dad that didn't visit me and mom too," PJ said empathetically.

Poseidon opened his mouth but snapped it shut when he couldn't find anything appropriate to say.

**The more I thought about it, I resented Poseidon for never visiting me, never helping my mom, never even sending a lousy child-support check.**

**He'd only claimed me because he needed a job done.**

"_No_! That isn't the only reason I claimed you." Poseidon looked almost close to tears.

**All I cared about was my mom. Hades had taken her unfairly, and Hades was going to give her back.**

_**You will be betrayed by one who calls you a friend,**_**the Oracle whispered in my mind. **_**You will fail to save what matters most in the end.**_

_**Shut up, **_**I told it.**

"You shouldn't speak to the Oracle like that, she knows you just said that." Apollo spoke seriously.

**The rain kept coming down.**

**We got restless waiting for the bus and decided to play some Hacky Sack with one of Grover's apples. Annabeth was unbelievable.**

**She could bounce the apple off her knee, her elbow, her shoulder, whatever. I wasn't too bad myself.**

"Ego the size of the oceans." Athena rolled her eyes.

"Oh, but your skills are worth boasting, right sister?" PJ asked hopefully, ignoring Athena's spluttering.

**The game ended when Luke tossed the apple toward Grover and it got too close to his mouth. In one mega goat bite, our Hacky Sack disappeared—core, stem, and all.**

There was a pause before Olympus shook with laughter of the gods and their children.

**Grover blushed. He tried to apologize, but Annabeth, Luke and I were too busy cracking up.**

**Finally the bus came. As we stood in line to board, Grover started looking around, sniffing the air like he smelled his favorite school cafeteria delicacy—enchiladas.**

**"What is it?" I asked.**

**"I don't know," he said tensely. "Maybe it's nothing."**

**But I could tell it wasn't nothing. I started looking over my shoulder, too.**

**I was relieved when we finally got on board and found seats together in the back of the bus. We stowed our back packs. Annabeth kept slapping her Yankees cap nervously against her thigh.**

**As the last passengers got on, I clamped my hand onto Luke's knee. **

Theseus and Poseidon looked ready to kill the son of Hermes.

Aphrodite squealed with happiness, "She touched him!"

**"Luke," I nearly whimpered.**

**An old lady had just boarded the bus. She wore a crumpled velvet dress, lace gloves, and a shapeless orange-knit hat that shadowed her face, and she carried a big paisley purse. When she tilted her head up, her black eyes glittered, and my heart skipped a beat.**

**It was Mrs. Dodds. Older, more withered, but definitely the same evil face.**

**I scrunched down in my seat, really wishing that either Luke or the seat can swallow me up.**

Aphrodite snickered. 'Oh yes, you two will become one soon."

"HEY!"

**Behind her came two more old ladies: one in a green hat, one in a purple hat. Otherwise they looked exactly like Mrs. Dodds—same gnarled hands, paisley handbags, wrinkled velvet dresses. Triplet demon grandmothers.**

"All three Furies? Really?" Poseidon asked in a hysterical voice.

"So it would seem." Nico smirked.

"It's not funny," Theseus growled.

**They sat in the front row, right behind the driver. The two on the aisle crossed their legs over the walkway, making an X. It was casual enough, but it sent a clear message: nobody leaves.**

**The bus pulled out of the station, and we headed through the slick streets of Manhattan. "She didn't stay dead long," I said, trying to keep my voice from quivering. "I thought you said they could be dispelled for a lifetime."**

**"I said if you're **_**lucky**_**," Annabeth said. "You're obviously not."**

"It would appear that she isn't," Hestia murmured sadly.

**"All three of them," Grover whimpered. **_**"Di immortales!"**_

**"It's okay," Annabeth said, obviously thinking hard. "The Furies. The three worst monsters from the Underworld. No problem. No problem. We'll just slip out the windows."**

**"They don't open," Grover moaned.**

**"A back exit?" Luke suggested.**

**There wasn't one. Even if there had been, it wouldn't have helped. By that time, we were on Ninth Avenue, heading for the Lincoln Tunnel.**

"Oh _Styx_!" Poseidon exclaimed baring his head in his hands as Athena began to do calming breath exercises. Hermes comforted himself that his son was very experienced but the truth was, he himself was close to hyperventilating.

Little Luke gawked at his father. "Since when did you care?"

Luke elbowed his younger self at Hermes' hurt expression.

**"They won't attack us with witnesses around," I said. "Will they?"**

**"Mortals don't have good eyes," Luke reminded me. "Their brains can only process what they see through the Mist."**

**"They'll see three old ladies killing us, won't they?"**

The readers howled with laughter. "Are you being sarcastic?" Annabeth asked.

**She thought about it. "Hard to say. But we can't count on mortals for help. Maybe an emergency exit in the roof ... ?" We hit the Lincoln Tunnel, and the bus went dark except for the running lights down the aisle. It was eerily quiet without the sound of the rain.**

**Mrs. Dodds got up. In a flat voice, as if she'd rehearsed it, she announced to the whole bus: "I need to use the rest-room."**

**"So do I," said the second sister.**

**"So do I," said the third sister.**

**They all started coming down the aisle.**

**"I've got it," Annabeth said. "Percy, take my hat."**

**"What?"**

**"You're the one they want. Turn invisible and go up the aisle. Let them pass you. Maybe you can get to the front and get away."**

"No, Annabeth!" Athena exclaimed.

**"But you guys—"**

**"There's an outside chance they might not notice us," Luke said. "You're a son of one of the Big Three. Your smell might be overpowering."**

**"I can't just leave you."**

"That is _so sweet_!" Aphrodite exclaimed happily.

"What about Grover?" Nico asked.

**"Don't worry about us," Grover said. "Go!"**

**My hands trembled. I felt like a coward, but I took the Yankees cap and put it on.**

**When I looked down, my body wasn't there anymore. I started creeping up the aisle. I managed to get up ten rows, then duck into an empty seat just as the Furies walked past.**

**Mrs. Dodds stopped, sniffing, and looked straight at me. My heart was pounding.**

**Apparently she didn't see anything. She and her sisters kept going.**

"Safe," Poseidon let out a sigh of relief.

"But not my son." Hermes said sourly.

"My daughter's there too." Athena added sullenly.

**I was free. I made it to the front of the bus. We were almost through the Lincoln Tunnel now. I was about to press the emergency stop button when I heard hideous wailing from the back row. The old ladies were not old ladies anymore. Their faces were still the same—I guess those couldn't get any uglier—**

"True." Hades chuckled along with the rest of his family.

**but their bodies had shriveled into leathery brown hag bodies with bat's wings and hands and feet like gargoyle claws. Their handbags had turned into fiery whips.**

**The Furies surrounded Grover and Annabeth, lashing their whips, hissing: "Where is it? Where?"**

"_It_?" Athena mused, her brow furrowing in confusion.

**The other people on the bus were screaming, cowering in their seats. They saw **_**something, **_**all right.**

**"He's not here!" Annabeth yelled. "He's gone!"**

"**Percy's a girl inder the disguise, Annie," Luke said. I wanted to yell at him that it didn't matter.**

**The Furies raised their whips.**

**Annabeth drew her bronze knife the same time Luke drew his sword. Grover grabbed a tin can from his snack bag and prepared to throw it. What I did next was so impulsive and dangerous I should've been named ADHD poster child of the year.**

"Oh dear Styx if this plan hurts my baby, so _help_ me Poseidon I will _find_ a way to murder you!" Athena exclaimed.

"Baby?" Annabeth echoed, cheeks flushed red from embarrassment. She didn't know her mother cared.

**The bus driver was distracted, trying to see what was going on in his rearview mirror.**

**Still invisible, I grabbed the wheel from him and jerked it to the left. **

Poseidon nearly fainted. Hermes was already out cold but no one bothered to help him, too engrossed as to what happened next.

**Everybody howled as they were thrown to the right, and I heard what I hoped was the sound of three Furies smashing against the windows.**

**"Hey!" the driver yelled. "Hey—whoa!"**

**We wrestled for the wheel. The bus slammed against the side of the tunnel, grinding metal, throwing sparks a mile behind us.**

"Your crazy daughter's going to get all of them killed!" Athena shrieked at Poseidon, trembling.

**We careened out of the Lincoln Tunnel and back into the rainstorm, people and monsters tossed around the bus, cars plowed aside like bowling pins.**

**Somehow the driver found an exit. We shot off the highway, through half a dozen traffic lights, and ended up barreling down one of those New Jersey rural roads where you can't believe there's so much nothing right across the river from New York. There were woods to our left, the Hudson River to our right, and the driver seemed to be veering toward the river.**

**Another great idea: I hit the emergency brake.**

**The bus wailed, spun a full circle on the wet asphalt, and crashed into the trees. The emergency lights came on. The door flew open. The bus driver was the first one out, the passengers yelling as they stampeded after him. I stepped into the driver's seat and let them pass.**

**The Furies regained their balance. They lashed their whips at Annabeth while she waved her knife and yelled in Ancient Greek, telling them to back off. Grover threw tin cans. Luke was fending off a Fury.**

"Like that's going to help satyr!" Athena rambled on practically pulling out her hair. Poseidon hadn't lifted his head from his hands, but you could tell his breathing was hysterical. Hestia took a moment to smile at the three, they were insanely worried parents. Great parents.

**I looked at the open doorway. I was free to go, but I couldn't leave my friends. I took off the invisible cap. "Hey!"**

Theseus groaned loudly.

"Sorry, sorry," Percy repeated at their worried expressions.

**The Furies turned, baring their yellow fangs at me, and the exit suddenly seemed like an excellent idea. Mrs. Dodds stalked up the aisle, just as she used to do in class, about to deliver my F- math test. Every time she flicked her whip, red flames danced along the barbed leather.**

**Her two ugly sisters hopped on top of the seats on either side of her and crawled toward me like huge nasty lizards.**

**"Persephone Jackson," Mrs. Dodds said, in an accent that was definitely from somewhere farther south than Georgia. "You have offended the gods. You shall die."**

Poseidon was now rocking back and forth in his throne, his head still in his hands, his elbows resting on his knees, breath absolutely hysterical. It wad the most adorable site Demeter had seen in years. The perfect worried father. She knew that if one of the furies put a scratch on his daughter's body, Hades would wish he was in Tartarus.

**"I liked you better as a math teacher," I told her.**

A few people chuckled.

**She growled.**

**Annabeth, Luke and Grover moved up behind the Furies cautiously, looking for an opening. I took the ballpoint pen out of my pocket and uncapped it. Riptide elongated into a shimmering double-edged sword.**

**The Furies hesitated.**

**Mrs. Dodds had felt Riptide's blade before. She obviously didn't like seeing it again.**

**"Submit now," she hissed. "And you will not suffer eternal torment."**

**"Nice try," I told her.**

**"Percy, look out!" Annabeth cried.**

**Mrs. Dodds lashed her whip around my sword hand while the Furies on the either side lunged at me.**

Poseidon slumped forward, out like a light. No one paid him and Hermes any attention.

**My hand felt like it was wrapped in molten lead, but I managed not to drop Riptide. Luckily, Luke came and stuck the Fury on the left with his sword's hilt, sending her toppling backward into a seat. I turned and sliced the Fury on the right. As soon as the blade connected with her neck, she screamed and exploded into dust. Annabeth got Mrs. Dodds in a wrestler's hold and yanked her backward while Grover ripped the whip out of her hands.**

**"Ow!" he yelled. "Ow! Hot! Hot!"**

"What did you expect, it radiates _fire_!" Hades rolled his eyes.

**The Fury Luke'd hilt-slammed came at us again, talons ready, but I swung Riptide and she broke open like a piñata. Luke smirked in approval at me and I felt my face grew hot.**

**Mrs. Dodds was trying to get Annabeth off her back. She kicked, clawed, hissed and bit, but Annabeth held on while Grover got Mrs. Dodds's legs tied up in her own whip. Finally they both shoved her backward into the aisle. Mrs. Dodds tried to get up, but she didn't have room to flap her bat wings, so she kept falling down.**

Athena smiled proudly, her daughter had taken down the Fury Alecto, yes it was with the help of the satyr, but the goddess was sure Annabeth could do so without his help. She didn't know this skill of her daughter would be her downfall.

**"Zeus will destroy you!" she promised. "Hades will have your soul!"**

"Yes throw _both_ of you at him." Poseidon grumbled glaring back and forth between his brothers. Hades was being 'tended to' by Persephone, and chose to ignore his brother's glare, while Zeus smiled apologetically at him.

**"**_**Braccas meas vescimini**_**!" Grover yelled.**

"**Tell them to do their best!" I taunted.**

"Percy –" Poseidon and Theseus nearly whined.

**I wasn't sure where the Latin came from. I think it meant "Eat my pants!"**

This made the readers laugh happily. As, yes, it _did_ mean 'Eat my pants!'

**Thunder shook the bus. The hair rose on the back of my neck.**

**"Get out!" Annabeth yelled at us. "Now!" **

**We didn't need any encouragement.**

Athena, Hermes and Poseidon glared at Zeus, who shrugged.

**We rushed outside and found the other passengers wandering around in a daze, arguing with the driver, or running around in circles yelling, "We're going to die!" A Hawaiian-shirted tourist with a camera snapped my photograph before I could recap my sword.**

**"Our bags!" Grover realized. "We left our—"**

_**BOOOOOM**_**!**

"Well, _that_ sucks." Apollo stated.

"For demigods, two words can sum up our lives." Thalia said.

"Life sucks." The demigods chorused.

The gods and goddesses winced, did all their children thought so?

**The windows of the bus exploded as the passengers ran for cover. Lightning shredded a huge crater in the roof, but an angry wail from inside told me Mrs. Dodds was not yet dead.**

"You sent lightening to a bus, where _my daughter_ was?" Athena looked disbelievingly at Zeus. "She didn't do anything to offend you!"

"My son didn't too." Hermes put in.

"Yes, but I believe Poseidon's daughter is guilty, they were with his child." Zeus stated, while Poseidon glared.

**"Run!" Annabeth said. "She's calling for reinforcements! We have to get out of here!"**

**We plunged into the woods as the rain poured down, the bus in flames behind us, and nothing but darkness ahead.**

"Ain't that horrible?" Perseus muttered as he took the book from Hera.

**LxP**

* * *

A/N: Which of my new stories do you like better? The Chaos-story (Perlia) or the Percy/Bianca one?


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 11: **We Visit the Garden Gnome Emporium

* * *

Perseus took the book from Hera, mindful to not touch the goddess since she was giving him and Thalia a disdainful look and he wasn't putting it above her to curse him with even the slightest of contacts.

**In a way, it's nice to know there are Greek gods out there, **

"That's nice to know," Apollo smiled.

Percy winced. "Um – then you got it wrong –"

**because you have somebody to blame when things go wrong," **Perseus continued, shooting an amused look at Percy who was laughing nervously at the glares she was getting.

**For instance, when you're walking away from a bus that's just been attacked by monster hags and blown up by lightning, and it's raining on top of everything else, most people might think that's just really bad luck; when you're a half-blood, you understand that some divine force really is trying to mess up your day.**

"Well, she _has_ a point." Hephaestus grumbled.

"Who did you offend?" P.J asked innocently.

"My dad," Thalia answered, ruffling P.J's messy locks.

**So there we were, Annabeth and Grover and Luke and I, walking through the woods along the New Jerseyriverbank, the glow of New York City making the night sky yellow behind us, and the smell of the Hudson reeking in our noses.**

**Grover was shivering and braying, his big goat eyes turned slit-pupiled and full of terror.**

**"Three Kindly Ones. All three at once."**

Poseidon glared at his brother, who ignored him; that came from years of practice.

**I was pretty much in shock myself. The explosion of bus windows still rang in my ears. But Annabeth and Luke kept pulling us along, saying: "Come on! The farther away we get, the better."**

Poseidon cleared his throat awkwardly. "I have to say, Hermes, Athena..." he mumbled the rest of his sentence in a jumble.

Zeus stared at his older brother, was Poseidon trying to thank Athena – his rival – and Hermes – the father of the boy that he didn't want close to his daughter?

"What was that, Uncle P?" Hermes asked curiously.

"What I wanted to say is that: thank you. If your children hadn't been there... Percy might not be here today," the sea god shot his daughter a small smile. "So thanks..."

Hestia smiled; her family was starting to shape up rather nicely.

Athena stared at Poseidon, before abruptly turning the other cheek. "It's nothing," she mumbled, wondering why her cheeks felt hot.

**"All our money was back there," I reminded the older demigods. "Our food and clothes. Everything."**

**"Well, maybe if you hadn't decided to jump into the fight—"Annabeth started, glowering at me.**

**"What did you want me to do? Let you two get killed?"**

**"You didn't need to protect me, Percy. I would've been fine." Luke said and I shot him a glare for not helping me.**

**"Sliced like sandwich bread," Grover put in, "but fine."**

"Does the satyr _have_ to step in on their lover's spat?" Aphrodite complained.

"Athena's daughter's also arguing – so it isn't a lovers spat." Poseidon interjected sourly.

**"Shut up, goat boy," said Annabeth.**

**Grover brayed mournfully. "Tin cans ... a perfectly good bag of tin cans."**

**We sloshed across mushy ground, through nasty twisted trees that smelled like sour laundry.** **After a few minutes, Luke fell into line next to me. "Look, I..." His voice faltered. "I appreciate your coming back for us, okay? That was really brave. Sorry about snapping at you before – rarely ever I need any help."**

**"We're a team, right?"**

"A _couple_, with two tag alongs, is more like it." Aphrodite snickered.

**Luke was silent for a few more steps and that was when Annabeth fell into step beside me. "Look, like Luke, I'm sorry for getting mad earlier. It's just that if you died ... aside from the fact that it would really suck for you, it would mean the quest was over. This may be my only chance to see the real world."**

"Your is just _so_ caring isn't she, Athena?" Demeter chucked happily.

**The thunderstorm had finally let up. The city glow faded behind us, leaving us in almost total darkness. I couldn't see anything of Luke or Annabeth except a glint of their blond hair.**

**"You haven't left Camp Half-Blood since you were there?" I asked them.**

"**Once," Luke muttered darkly, rubbing the scar on his face; I had a feeling his first time leaving camp didn't go so well. "on my first quest – it didn't end well."**

Little Luke wondered how bad the first quest was, stealing a glance at his older counterpart and grimacing when he noticed how painful the scar looked – though it suited him. Made him look cooler.

**"No... only short field trips. My dad—"**

**"The history professor."**

**"Yeah. It didn't work out for me living at home. I mean, Camp Half-Blood **_**is **_**my home." She was rushing her words out now, as if she were afraid somebody might try to stop her or as if she was trying to cover something up.** **"At camp you train and train. And that's all cool and everything, but the real world is where the monsters are. That's where you learn whether you're any good or not."**

**If I didn't know better, I could've sworn I heard doubt in her voice.**

**"You're pretty good with that knife," I said.**

**"You think so?"**

**"Anybody who can piggyback-ride a Fury is okay by me."**

"They're okay by, _me_ too." Hades chuckled-.

**I couldn't really see, but I thought she might've smiled.**

**"You know," she said, "maybe I should tell you... Something funny back on the bus..."**

**Whatever she wanted to say was interrupted by a shrill **_**toot-toot-toot, **_**like the sound of an owl being tortured.**

Athena looked appalled at the description.

**"Hey, my reed pipes still work!" Grover cried.**

**"If I could just remember a 'find path' song, we could get out of these woods!"**

"Young one, you are hopeless." Dionysus stated, rolling his eyes.

**He puffed out a few notes, but the tune still sounded suspiciously like Hilary Duff.** **Instead of finding a path, that stupid and ugly tune had me immediately slammed into a tree and got a nice-size knot on my head.**

**Add to the list of superpowers I did **_**not **_**have: infrared vision.**

"Actually, being my child, you _do_ have 'infrared vision', or you should at least, but it would only work while you're in water." Poseidon explained.

"Oh, I experienced it once to!" Theseus agreed.

**After tripping and cursing and generally feeling miserable for another mile or so, Luke offered me a piggyback ride seeing as I could barely walk straight but I was too embarassed to agree. That guy didn't even ask for my permission before he haul me off my feet and carried me as if I was a sack of potatoes to him and continued walking. **

Aphrodite looked ready to make a comment but Poseidon's glare made her refrain from doing so.

**I drilled holes into his back but I had a feeling that it didn't even intimidate him. Once I took some time of glaring at the son of Hermes, I started to see light up ahead: the colors of a neon sign. I could smell food. Fried, greasy, excellent food.**

**I realized I hadn't eaten anything unhealthy since I'd arrived at Half-Blood Hill, where we lived on grapes, bread, cheese, and extra-lean-cut nymph-prepared barbecue. This kid needed a double cheeseburger.**

"The food served at Camp is to make you healthy," Annabeth said icily. "You should be grateful that the Camp is at least trying to cover our needs."

Athena frowned at her daughter's tone but the future demigods didn't seem surprise at her tone of voice – once again, the goddess of wisdom wondered what happened in the future.

**We kept walking until I saw a deserted two-lane road through the trees. On the other side was a closed-down gas station, a tattered billboard for a 1990s movie, and one open business, which was the source of the neon light and the good smell.**

"This doesn't look too good." Athena murmured to herself.

**It wasn't a fast-food restaurant like I'd hoped. It was one of those weird roadside curio shops that sell lawn flamingos and wooden Indians and cement grizzly bears and stuff like that. The main building was a long, low warehouse, surrounded by acres of statuary. The neon sign above the gate was impossible for me to read, because if there's anything worse for my dyslexia than regular English, it's red cursive neon English.**

**To me, it looked like: **_**ATNYU MES GDERAN GOMEN MEPROUIM.**_

**"What the heck does that say?" I asked.**

**"I don't know," Annabeth said.**

**She loved reading so much, I'd forgotten she was dyslexic, too.**

**Grover translated: "Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium."**

"Oops."

Poseidon looked at Hades with suspicion. "What kind of reaction is that?"

"None of your business."

**Flanking the entrance, as advertised, were two cement garden gnomes, ugly bearded little runts, smiling and waving, as if they were about to get their picture taken.**

**I crossed the street, following the smell of the hamburgers.**

**"Hey..." Grover warned.**

"What does the satyr sense?" Athena asked, sending dangerous looks to Hades who was whistling, trying to look innocent when he clearly wasn't.

**"The lights are on inside," Annabeth said. "Maybe it's open."**

**"Snack bar," I said wistfully.**

**"Snack bar," Luke agreed.**

**"Are you three crazy?" Grover said. "This place is weird."**

"Is the daughter of Athens falling for a trap?" Poseidon asked, receiving a glare for the wisdom goddess.

"What surprise me more is that a son of the god thieves – sneaky guy – is falling into a trap!" Apollo exclaimed dramatically.

**We ignored him.**

**The front lot was a forest of statues: cement animals, cement children, even a cement satyr playing the pipes, which gave Grover the creeps.**

_**"Bla-ha-ha!" **_**he bleated. "Looks like my Uncle Ferdinand!"**

Dionysus whom had caught on at the implication didn't say anything, wondering how the demigods got out of trouble – though he never showed, he cared greatly for the campers of Camp Half-Blood. No demigod should forget that he was once a demigod too and knew of the dangers they all had to face. He just never showed how much he cared because if he did care, he'd just end up getting hurt because he was immortal and the demigods he was close to were bound to die someday.

**We stopped at the warehouse door.**

**"Don't knock," Grover pleaded. "I smell monsters."**

**"Your nose is clogged up from the Furies," Annabeth told him.**

"That's a great mistake isn't it?" little Annabeth grimaced at her future self's stupidity.

**"All I smell is burgers. Aren't you hungry?"**

**"Meat!" he said scornfully. "I'm a vegetarian."**

**"You eat cheese enchiladas and aluminum cans," Luke reminded him.**

**"Those are vegetables. Come on. Let's leave. These statues are ... looking at me."**

Perseus stared blankly into space for a moment before snapping out of his trance and exclaiming, rather dramtically, "_No_!" having figured out why the sentence sounded so familiar.

Thalia, on the other hand was glowering at her cousin. "You never told me you had to fight daddy's girlfriend!"

"It's in the past – irrevelevant." Percy muttered back.

Nico huffed. "What good would that monster be if you didn't die?"

Percy looked hurt. "Nico –"

"I don't want to talk to you. I hate you." The son of Hades snarled, hatred lacing his tone.

This definitely drew their parents' attention. "What happened?" they murmured, gazing at them with concealed concern.

"You'd find out in the later books." Luke said, shifting so his stance allowed him to be able to fight when the time was right.

**Then the door creaked open, and standing in front of us was a tall Middle Eastern woman—at least, I assumed she was Middle Eastern, because she wore a long black gown that covered everything but her hands, and her head was completely veiled. Her eyes glinted behind a curtain of black gauze, but that was about all I could make out. Her coffee-colored hands looked old, but well-manicured and elegant, so I imagined she was a grandmother who had once been a beautiful lady.**

"Oh," Theseus said numbly. "How did you get out of trouble?"

"You'd see." Percy grinned cheekily.

**Her accent sounded vaguely Middle Eastern, too. She said, "Children, it is too late to be out all alone. Where are your parents?"**

**"They're ... um ..." Annabeth started to say.**

"**Dead." Luke said coldly, a dark look flashing in his eyes.**

Little Luke scowled in understanding. Was his mother dead in the future? He should be glad because his mortal mother just abused him – why did she shake him with her green eyes glowing knowing he was terrified of her when she was like that? – but a pang of sadness stab his chest when the thought of her dead crossed his mind.

**"We're orphans," I said, trying to support Luke's story – why did he have to say such thing? That's like bad luck.**

**"Orphans?" the woman said. The word sounded alien in her mouth. "But, my dears! Surely not!"**

**"We got separated from our caravan," I said. "Our circus caravan.**

"Not bad," Athena conceded.

**The ringmaster told us to meet him at the gas station if we got lost, but he may have forgotten, or maybe he meant a different gas station. Anyway, we're lost. Is that food I smell?"**

**"Oh, my dears," the woman said. "You must come in, poor children. I am Aunty Em. Go straight through to the back of the warehouse, please. There is a dining area."**

**We thanked her and went inside.**

**Annabeth muttered to me, "Circus caravan?"**

**"Always have a strategy, right?"**

**"Your head is full of kelp."**

Athena chuckled, she couldn't help it; but it didn't make her stop worrying.

**The warehouse was filled with more statues—people in all different poses, wearing all different outfits and with different expressions on their faces. I was thinking you'd have to have a pretty huge garden to fit even one of these statues, because they were all life-size. But mostly, I was thinking about food.**

**Go ahead, call me an idiot for walking into a strange lady's shop like that just because I was hungry,**

"You're an idiot." came the chorus of the gods and goddesses.

"That's _so_ mean," Percy whined. "I didn't mean it literally!"

**but I do impulsive stuff sometimes. Plus, you've never smelled Aunty Em's burgers. The aroma was like laughing gas in the dentist's chair—it made everything else go away. I barely noticed Grover's nervous whimpers, or the way the statues' eyes seemed to follow me, or the fact that Aunty Em had locked the door behind us.**

"Oh Styx! This is all my fault." Poseidon exclaimed, placing a hand over his heart.

"Yes, it is." Athena agreed.

**All I cared about was finding the dining area. And sure enough, there it was at the back of the warehouse, a fast-food counter with a grill, a soda fountain, a pretzel heater, and a nacho cheese dispenser. Everything you could want, plus a few steel picnic tables out front.**

**"Please, sit down," Aunty Em said.**

**"Awesome," I said.**

**"Um," Grover said reluctantly, "we don't have any money, ma'am."**

"That's not going to matter." Hephaestus grumbled. "You're her food."

**Before I could jab him in the ribs, Aunty Em said, "No, no, children. No money. This is a special case, yes? It is my treat, for such nice orphans."**

**"Thank you, ma'am," Annabeth said.**

"How could _your_ daughter be _so foolish_, Athena?" Hera asked innocently, the two owls that were perched on Athena's throne, turned their heads sharply towards the Queen of the gods; she wisely shut up.

**Aunty Em stiffened, as if Annabeth had done some thing wrong, but then the old woman relaxed just as quickly, so I figured it must've been my imagination.**

**"Quite all right, Annabeth," she said. "You have such beautiful gray eyes, child."**

"Medusa realizes whose daughter she is." Zeus mumbled.

"She'd be her target at least, so our children's safe!" Hermes and Poseidon high-fived one another.

Athena threw her cousin and uncle dirty glares.

**Only later did I wonder how she knew Annabeth's name, even though we had never introduced ourselves.** **Our hostess disappeared behind the snack counter and started cooking. Before we knew it, she'd brought us plastic trays heaped with double cheeseburgers, vanilla shakes, and XXL servings of French fries.**

Apollo, Ares, and Hermes moaned at the thought of the delicious, greasy, treats.

**I was halfway through my burger before I remembered to breathe.**

**Annabeth slurped her shake.**

Athena's eyes turned into ones of a scolding mother for a moment, but she thought better of it and continued worrying.

**Grover picked at the fries, and eyed the tray's waxed paper liner as if he might go for that, but he still looked too nervous to eat.**

"Poor dear." Artemis mumbled.

"Grover'd be so happy to know you cared about him," Luke stated.

"He's a part of the wild and I care about the wild," Artemis shot back.

"Just so you can hunt the creatures in the wild." Apollo said.

"I don't deny it."

"That's so cruel, sis."

"Shut up."

**"What's that hissing noise?" he asked.**

**I listened, but didn't hear anything. Annabeth shook her head. Luke shrugged and said, "No idea; can't hear anything."**

**"Hissing?" Aunty Em asked. "Perhaps you hear the deep-fryer oil. You have keen ears, Grover."**

**"I take vitamins. For my ears."**

**"That's admirable," she said. "But please, relax."**

"How can he when he's in a monster lair?" Hera asked.

**Aunt Em ate nothing. She hadn't taken off her head dress, even to cook, and now she sat forward and interlaced her fingers and watched us eat. It was a little unsettling, having someone stare at me when I couldn't see her face, but I was feeling satisfied after the burger, and a little sleepy, and I figured the least I could do was try to make small talk with our hostess.**

**"So, you sell gnomes," I said, trying to sound interested.**

**"Oh, yes," Aunty Em said. "And animals. And people. Anything for the garden. Custom orders. Statuary is very popular, you know."**

"So that's where you get our statues from?" Demter hissed at Hades.

"Persephone wanted them!" the god of the Underworld was quick to defend himself.

**"A lot of business on this road?"**

**"Not so much, no. Since the highway was built... most cars, they do not go this way now. I must cherish every customer I get."**

**My neck tingled, as if somebody else was looking at me. I turned, but it was just a statue of a young girl holding an Easter basket.**

Artemis' breath caught in her throat over the poor maiden.

**The detail was incredible, much better than you see in most garden statues.**

**But something was wrong with her face. It looked as if she were startled, or even terrified.**

**"Ah," Aunty Em said sadly. "You notice some of my creations do not turn out well. They are marred. They do not sell. The face is the hardest to get right. Always the face."**

"I wonder _why_?" Hephaestus snorted, rolling his eyes.

**"You make these statues yourself?" I asked.**

**"Oh, yes. Once upon a time, I had two sisters to help me in the business, but they have passed on, and Aunty Em is alone. I have only my statues. This is why I make them, you see. They are my company." The sadness in her voice sounded so deep and so real that I couldn't help feeling sorry for her.**

"Empathy is what keeps you human," Hestia acknowledged with pride as she gazed at teh daughter of Poseidon. "But don't pity the damned, niece, there is always a reason as to why they're cursed."

"I learned that lesson years ago, Aunt Hestia." Percy murmured darkly.

**Annabeth had stopped eating. She sat forward and said, "Two sisters?"**

"_Finally_, the daughter of Athena gets it!" Ares exclaimed.

"Wonderful!" Hermes exclaimed. "Get out of there!"

**"It's a terrible story," Aunty Em said. "Not one for children, really. You see, Annabeth, a bad woman was jealous of me, long ago, when I was young.**

"I was _not jealous_!" Athena exclaimed, though a part of her mind whispered evilly that yes, she was jealous when she caught Poseidon and his lover. Her blood just boiled when she saw Poseidon's eyes gazing lovingly at Medusa.

**I had a... a boyfriend, you know, and this bad woman was determined to break us apart. She caused a terrible accident. My sisters stayed by me. They shared my bad fortune as long as they could, but eventually they passed on. They faded away. I alone have survived, but at a price. Such a price."**

Poseidon sighed deeply, closing his eyes.

**I wasn't sure what she meant, but I felt bad for her.**

"Don't sister." Theseus muttered.

"It's already over anyways."

**My eyelids kept getting heavier, my full stomach making me sleepy. Poor old lady. Who would want to hurt somebody so nice?**

**"Percy?" Luke was shaking me to get my attention. "Maybe we should go. I mean, the ringmaster will be waiting."**

"Its too late for that now." Apollo muttered sadly.

**He sounded tense. I wasn't sure why. Grover was eating the waxed paper off the tray now, but if Aunty Em found that strange, she didn't say anything. Annabeth's eyes were darting around wildly, as if she was trying to find an escape route.**

**"Such beautiful gray eyes," Aunty Em told Annabeth again. "My, yes, it has been a long time since I've seen gray eyes like those."**

Athena winced.

**She reached out as if to stroke Annabeth's cheek, but Annabeth stood up abruptly.**

**"We really should go."**

**"Yes!" Grover swallowed his waxed paper and stood up. "The ringmaster is waiting! Right!"**

**I didn't want to leave. I felt full and content. Aunty Em was so nice. I wanted to stay with her a while.**

"No, daughter, _leave_!" Poseidon begged.

"Yes, Percy," Athena agreed, "Don't stay with Daddy's ex-girlfriend." The goddess of wisdom hoped she hadn't sound as bitter as she felt when she said the last part.

**"Please, dears," Aunty Em pleaded. "I so rarely get to be with children. Before you go, won't you at least sit for a pose?"**

**"A pose?" Luke asked warily.**

**"A photograph. I will use it to model a new statue set.** **Children are so popular, you see. Everyone loves children."**

"Oh _Styx_!" Demeter exclaimed.

**Annabeth shifted her weight from foot to foot. "I don't think we can, ma'am. Come on, Percy—"**

**"Sure we can," I said.**

**I was irritated with Annabeth for being so bossy, so rude to an old lady who'd just fed us for free. "It's just a photo, Annabeth. What's the harm?"**

"A lot," little Annabeth muttered. "You're going to get me killed." She glowered accusingly at little Percy who winced and muttered her apologies even though she couldn't quite grasp why she was being blame for things that were happening in the future.

**"Yes, Annabeth," the woman purred. "No harm."**

**I could tell Annabeth didn't like it, but she allowed Aunty Em to lead us back out the front door, into the garden of statues.**

**Aunty Em directed us to a park bench next to the stone satyr. "Now," she said, "I'll just position you correctly. The young girls in the middle, I think, and the two young gentlemen on either side." The old lady studied me and Luke. "Why, Luke, you should be the one to stand beside Percy."**

Demeter smirked. "Even a monster can tell the chemistry between you two."

"What chemistry?" Percy asked.

**Luke didn't protest and shifted till he was beside me, his body warmth reaching me as he got closer. He was frowning though, as if somehting unnerved him.**

**"Not much light for a photo," I remarked.**

**"Oh, enough," Aunty Em said. "Enough for us to see each other, yes?"**

**"Where's your camera?" Grover asked.**

No one dared to speak, Athena looked as if she was about to cry, Poseidon appeared to be on the brink of insanity, but that wasn't very unusual, Hermes gawked at Perseus, as if wishing the reader would change what was happening in the book.

**Aunty Em stepped back, as if to admire the shot. "Now, the face is the most difficult. Can you smile for me please, everyone? A large smile?"**

**Grover glanced at the cement satyr next to him, and mumbled, "That sure does look like Uncle Ferdinand."**

**"Grover," Aunty Em chastised, "look this way, dear."**

**She still had no camera in her hands.**

**"Percy—" Annabeth said.**

**Some instinct warned me to listen to Annabeth, but I was fighting the sleepy feeling, the comfortable lull that came from the food and the old lady's voice.**

"Listen to that instinct!" Thalia shrieked and Zeus frowned. Why was his daughter and his brother's daughter so close? Could his son's theory be right? But... wasn't both girls in love with the son of Hermes?

**"I will just be a moment," Aunty Em said. "You know, I can't see you very well in this cursed veil..."**

**"Percy, something's wrong," Luke insisted, grasping my hand.**

**"Wrong?" Aunty Em said, reaching up to undo the wrap around her head. "Not at all, dear. I have such noble company tonight. What could be wrong?"**

**"That **_**is **_**Uncle Ferdinand!" Grover gasped.**

**"Look away from her!" Annabeth shouted. She whipped her Yankees cap onto her head and vanished. Her invisible hands pushed Grover off the bench. Luke tackled me, wrapping his arms around me tightly as if he could protect me from gazing at the lady with his larger body.**

"Thank Olympus!" Hermes exclaimed, flopping back into his throne and fanning himself.

**I was on the ground, looking at Aunt Em's sandaled feet.**

**I could hear Grover scrambling off in one direction, Annabeth in another. But I was too dazed to move even though Luke was insisting and pushing me to my feet.**

**Then I heard a strange, rasping sound above me. My eyes rose to Aunty Em's hands, which had turned gnarled and warty, with sharp bronze talons for fingernails.**

**I almost looked higher, but Luke pushed my head down, "No! Don't!"**

Poseidon breathed a sigh of relief.

**More rasping—the sound of tiny snakes, right above me, from ... from about where Aunty Em's head would be.**

**"Run!" Grover bleated. I heard him racing across the gravel, yelling, "**_**Maia**_**!"**

"_Maia_!" Hermes yelled, silencing the noise from his bag.

**to kick-start his flying sneakers.**

**I couldn't move and Luke didn't either – I wondered why he didn't just run and abandon me. **

"I wouldn't have left you no matter what," Luke whispered softly in Percy's ear, making her face turn the exact shade of a tomato.

Theseus glared at Luke, his arm tightening around Percy's shoulders.

**I stared at Aunty Em's gnarled claws, and tried to fight the groggy trance the old woman had put me in.**

**"Such a pity to destroy a beautiful young face," she told me soothingly. "Stay with me, Percy. All you have to do is look up."**

"Seems Medusa still has the hots for you, Uncle." Apollo stated trying to lighten the mood. Poseidon growled darkly. Athena barely resisted from doing the same – what was Medusa thinking? Poseidon wasn't _hers_.

**I fought the urge to obey. Instead I looked to one side and saw one of those glass spheres people put in gardens—a gazing ball. I could see Aunty Em's dark reflection in the orange glass; her headdress was gone, revealing her face as a shimmering pale circle. Her hair was moving, writhing like serpents.**

**Aunty Em.**

**Aunty "M."**

**How could I have been so stupid?**

"Its in your blood." Athena mutter weakly.

**Think, I told myself. How did Medusa die in the myth?**

**But I couldn't think. Something told me that in the myth Medusa had been asleep when she was attacked by my namesake, Perseus. **

"Was it true?" Annabeth asked. "If so, that isn't very heroic. Especiall for a son of the mighty Zeus." She sneered sarcastically.

"The myths had it wrong," Perseus was only slightly ashamed that he'd snapped at a little girl; but his pride was on the line so it was excusable. "Medusa was feigning and I had to fight her _alone_."

**She wasn't anywhere near asleep now. If she wanted, she could take those talons right now and rake open my face.**

"She won't, you're the daughter of Poseidon, she'd want to keep you as a statue." Hades said.

**"The Gray-Eyed One did this to me, Percy," Medusa said, and she didn't sound anything like a monster. Her voice invited me to look up, to sympathize with a poor old grandmother. "Annabeth's mother, the cursed Athena, turned me from a beautiful woman into this."**

Fire flared in Athena's eyes at the Gorgon's statement; it was Medusa' own fault, who asked her to be such a slut?

**"Don't listen to her!" Annabeth's voice shouted, some where in the statuary. "Run, Percy, Luke!"**

**"Silence!" Medusa snarled. Then her voice modulated back to a comforting purr. "You see why I must destroy the girl, Percy. She is my enemy's daughter. I shall crush her statue to dust. But you, dear Percy, you need not suffer and Luke doesn't have to if you wish for it."**

"She _really_ still has the hots for you." Ares muttered shaking his head.

"Again, tell me your secrets, Uncle." Apollo muttered. Poseidon chose to ignore them.

**"No," I muttered. I tried to make my legs move.**

**"Do you really want to help the gods?" Medusa asked. "Do you understand what awaits you on this foolish quest, Percy? What will happen if you reach the Underworld? Do not be a pawn of the Olympians, my dears. You two would be better off as a statue. Less pain. Less pain."**

"Don't listen to her." Poseidon muttered.

**"Percy, Luke!" Behind us, I heard a buzzing sound, like a two-hundred-pound hummingbird in a nosedive. Grover yelled, "Duck!"**

**Me and Luke turned, and there he was in the night sky, flying in from twelve o'clock with his winged shoes fluttering, Grover, holding a tree branch the size of a baseball bat. His eyes were shut tight, his head twitched from side to side. He was navigating by ears and nose alone.**

**"Duck!" he yelled again. "I'll get her!"**

"So, maybe the satyr isn't _completely_ useless." Poseidon grumbled.

**That finally jolted Luke and me into action. Knowing Grover, I was sure he'd miss Medusa and nail either me or Luke.**

"Probably true." Dionysus stated.

**Luke grabbed my arm and to dove to one side.**

_**Thwack!**_

**At first I figured it was the sound of Grover hitting a tree. Then Medusa roared with rage.**

**"You miserable satyr," she snarled. "I'll add you to my collection!"**

"So, my shoes came in handy." Hermes smirked.

**"That was for Uncle Ferdinand!" Grover yelled back.**

**Luke and I scrambled away and hid in the statuary while Grover swooped down for another pass.**

_**Ker-whack!**_

**"Arrgh!" Medusa yelled, her snake-hair hissing and spitting.**

**Right next to me, Annabeth's voice said, "Percy, Luke!"**

**I jumped so high my feet nearly cleared a garden gnome. "Jeez! Don't do that!"**

**Annabeth took off her Yankees cap and became visible. "You have to cut her head off."**

**"What? Are you crazy? Let's get out of here." Luke said.**

"Just this once Annabeth, listen to the the boy." Athena muttered helplessly. She looked as if she was about to pull her hair out.

**"Medusa is a menace. She's evil. I'd kill her myself, but..." Annabeth swallowed, as if she were about to make a difficult admission. "But you've got the better weapon. Besides, I'd never get close to her. She'd slice me to bits because of my mother. You—you've got a chance."**

**"What? I can't—"**

**"Look, do you want her turning more innocent people into statues?"**

"No, daughter, listen to the know-it-all. Kill her." Poseidon muttered.

**She pointed to a pair of statue lovers, a man and a woman with their arms around each other, turned to stone by the monster.**

At he mention of the lovers Aphrodite sighed sadly.

**Luke sighed as he grabbed a green gazing ball from a nearby pedestal. "A polished shield would be better. That way, we can see her reflection." **

**Annabeth studied the sphere critically. "The convexity will cause some distortion. The reflection's size should be off by a factor of—"**

"The sea spawn wouldn't be able to understand," Nico sneered.

**"Would you speak English?"**

**"I **_**am!" **_**Annabeth snapped. "Just look at her in the glass. **_**Never **_**look at her directly."**

**"Hey, guys!" Grover yelled somewhere above us. "I think she's unconscious!"**

"Knock on wood, satyr." Hades grumbled, rolling his eyes.

_**"Roooaaarrr!"**_

**"Maybe not," Grover corrected. He went in for another pass with the tree branch.**

**"Hurry," Annabeth told me. "Grover's got a great nose, but he'll eventually crash."**

"Definitely," came a chorus of agreement.

**I took out my pen and uncapped it. The bronze blade of Riptide elongated in my hand. Luke sighed in resignation as he drew his sword.**

**We followed the hissing and spitting sounds of Medusa's hair. Luke was to provide backup if anything went wrong.**

**I kept my eyes locked on the gazing ball so I would only glimpse Medusa's reflection, not the real thing. Then, in the green tinted glass, I saw her.**

**Grover was coming in for another turn at bat, but this time he flew a little too low. Medusa grabbed the stick and pulled him off course. He tumbled through the air and crashed into the arms of a stone grizzly bear with a painful "Ummphh!"**

"Here we go, come on girl, kill your Dad's ex!" Ares exclaimed.

**Medusa was about to lunge at him when I yelled, "Hey!"**

**I advanced on her, which wasn't easy, holding a sword and a glass ball. If she charged, I'd have a hard time defending myself.**

**But she let me approach—twenty feet, ten feet.**

**I could see the reflection of her face now. Surely it wasn't really **_**that **_**ugly. The green swirls of the gazing ball must be distorting it, making it look worse.**

"No." The entire council answered, she _was _really that ugly.

"It really _is _a pity." Aphrodite mused, "She used to be so beautiful, if she'd been a priestess at my temple, maybe this wouldn't have happen."

**"You wouldn't harm an old woman, Percy," she crooned. "I know you wouldn't."**

**I hesitated, fascinated by the face I saw reflected in the glass—the eyes that seemed to burn straight through the green tint, making my arms go weak.**

**From the cement grizzly, Grover moaned, "Percy, don't listen to her!" Luke echoed that sentence though with a lot more force.**

**Medusa cackled. "Too late."**

Poseidon growled.

**She lunged at me with her talons.**

**I slashed up with my sword, heard a sickening**_**shlock!,**_** then a hiss like wind rushing out of a cavern—the sound of a monster disintegrating.**

Athena and Poseidon cheered, the sea god sweeped the wisdom goddess off her feet and they embraced, happy that their children were safe and, in Aphrodite's eyes, for something else. The goddess of love giggled and they sprang apart when they noticed they position.

**Something fell to the ground next to my foot. It took all my willpower not to look. I could feel warm ooze soaking into my sock, little dying snake heads tugging at my shoelaces.**

**"Oh, yuck," Luke said, coming up behind me and placing his hand on my shoulder. His eyes were still tightly closed, but I guess he could hear the thing gurgling and steaming. "Mega-yuck."**

"Agreed." Hera looked disgusted.

**Annabeth came up next to me, her eyes fixed on the sky. She was holding Medusa's black veil. She said, "Don't move."**

**Very, very carefully, without looking down, she knelt and draped the monster's head in black cloth, then picked it up. It was still dripping green juice.**

**"Are you okay?" she asked me, her voice trembling.**

**"Yeah," I decided, though I felt like throwing up my double cheeseburger. "Why didn't... why didn't the head evaporate?"**

**"Once you sever it, it becomes a spoil of war," she said. "Same as your minotaur horn. But don't unwrap the head. It can still petrify you."**

**Grover moaned as he climbed down from the grizzly statue. He had a big welt on his forehead. His green rasta cap hung from one of his little goat horns, and his fake feet had been knocked off his hooves. The magic sneakers were flying aimlessly around his head.**

**"The Red Baron," I said. "Good job, man."**

"He did _one_ good thing." Zeus grumbled out.

**He managed a bashful grin. "That really was **_**not **_**fun, though. Well, the hitting-her-with-a-stick part, that was fun. But crashing into a concrete bear? **_**Not **_**fun."**

Apollo and Hermes chuckled.

**He snatched his shoes out of the air. I recapped my sword. Together, the three of us stumbled back to the warehouse.**

**We found some old plastic grocery bags behind the snack counter and double-wrapped Medusa's head. We plopped it on the table where we'd eaten dinner and sat around it, too exhausted to speak.**

**Finally I said, "So we have Athena to thank for this monster?"**

Poseidon grinned and Athena huffed, offended.

**Annabeth flashed me an irritated look. "Your dad, actually.**

Athena smirked at Poseidon who stuck his tongue out at her.

**Don't you remember? Medusa was Poseidon's girlfriend.**

"_Lover_!" Poseidon exclaimed, "_Not_ girlfriend."

"What's the difference?" Artemis asked.

"Lover has less comitment to girlfriend." Perseus said.

**They decided to meet in my mother's temple. That's why Athena turned her into a monster. Medusa and her two sisters who had helped her get into the temple, they became the three gorgons. That's why Medusa wanted to slice me up, but she wanted to preserve you as a nice statue. She's still sweet on your dad. You probably reminded her of him."**

This made the Olympians laugh, Poseidon just smirked, not noticing the jealousy brewing on Athena's face.

"_Really_! Uncle, _tell me your secrets_!" Apollo demanded. "She loved you and got turned into a _gorgon_! She should _hate you_, but no she still wants some sea god! _How_?" Poseidon just laughed.

**My face was burning. "Oh, so now it's **_**my **_**fault we met Medusa."**

**Annabeth straightened. In a bad imitation of my voice, she said: "'It's just a photo, Annabeth. What's the harm?'"**

**"Forget it," I said. "You're impossible."**

**"You're insufferable."**

**"You're—"**

**"Hey!" Grover interrupted. "You two are giving me a migraine, and satyrs don't even **_**get **_**migraines. What are we going to do with the head?"**

"Good question." Artemis mused, wondering what the demigods would do with the head.

Percy shrank further into her seat.

**I stared at the thing. One little snake was hanging out of a hole in the plastic. The words printed on the side of the bag said: WE APPRECIATE YOUR BUSINESS!**

**I was angry, not just with Annabeth or her mom, but with all the gods**

In response to the girl's hate, they winced. Nico raised a brow in wonder, the daughter of Poseidon can hate?

**for this whole quest, for getting us blown off the road and in two major fights the very first day out from camp. At this rate, we'd never make it to L.A. alive, much less before the summer solstice.**

**What had Medusa said?**

_**Do not be a pawn of the Olympians, my dear. You would be better off as a statue.**_

"Don't listen to her, daughter." Poseidon moaned in despair.

"I did," Percy said. "only partially though so don't worry."

Hermes shot his son an unreadable glance.

**I got up. "I'll be back."**

**"Percy," Annabeth called after me. "What are you—"**

**I searched the back of the warehouse until I found Medusa's office. Her account book showed her six most recent sales, all shipments to the Underworld to decorate Hades and Persephone's garden.**

The Olympians glanced at Hades who shrugged.

**According to one freight bill, the Underworld's billing address was DOA Recording Studios, West Hollywood, California. I folded up the bill and stuffed it in my pocket.**

"Good thinking." Athena nodded.

**In the cash register I found twenty dollars, a few golden drachmas, and some packing slips for Hermes Overnight Express, each with a little leather bag attached for coins. I rummaged around the rest of the office until I found the right-size box.**

**I went back to the picnic table, packed up Medusa's head, and filled out a delivery slip:**

_**The Gods**_

_**MountOlympus**_

_**600th Floor,**_

_**EmpireState Building**_

_**New York, NY**_

_**With best wishes,**_

_**PERCY JACKSON**_

"The _nerve_ of that _brat_!" Zeus thundered. Poseidon smirked. The others were too stunned to speak.

**"They're not going to like that," Luke warned. "They'll think you're impertinent."**

**I poured some golden drachmas in the pouch. As soon as I closed it, there was a sound like a cash register. The package floated off the table and disappeared with a **_**pop!**_

**"I **_**am **_**impertinent," I said.**

"Its in your blood." Poseidon informed.

**I looked at Annabeth, daring her to criticize.**

**She didn't. She seemed resigned to the fact that I had a major talent for ticking off the gods. "Come on," she muttered. "We need a new plan."**

"That's it," Perseus said, tossing the book to Nico who caught it with a disgruntled look on his face. "read it Death Breath."

The son of Hades glowered at the son of Zeus but managed to spit out the next chapter's tittle with venom anyways.

**LxP**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 12: We Get Advice From A Poodle**

* * *

**We were pretty miserable that night.**

"Gee, I wonder why," Dionysus muttered sarcastically.

Nico smirked slightly in satisfaction at the thought of his most hated nemesis in pain before continuing reading.

**We camped out in the woods, a hundred yards from the main road, in a marshy clearing that local kids had obviously been using for parties. The ground was littered with flattened soda cans and fast-food wrappers.**

Artemis and Demeter were scowling in displeasure but made no comment.

**We'd taken some food and blankets from Aunty Em's, but we didn't dare light a fire to dry our damp clothes.**

Percy sighed. "If I'd known I can dry anything I wanted too, we wouldn't have suffered that night."

"At least Annabeth suffered too," Thalia muttered darkly. The daughter of Poseidon shot her cousin a warning look and she quieted, knowing the risks herself.

**The Furies and Medusa had provided enough excitement for one day. We didn't want to attract anything else.**

"You're just going to be buying time," Theseus said. "Not avoiding them completely."

"You demigods couldn't possibly be running away from every single fight!" Ares whined. He was really itching for a fight.

**We decided to sleep in shifts. I volunteered to take first watch. Annabeth curled up on the blankets and was snoring as soon as her head hit the ground. Luke glanced at me uncertainly before following Annabeth's example and crashed. Grover fluttered with his flying shoes to the lowest bough of a tree, put his back to the trunk, and stared at the night sky.**

**"Go ahead and sleep," I told him. "I'll wake you if there's trouble."**

Aphrodite smiled. "Luke will be so jealous if he knew..."

"I do now." Said boy mutterd.

**He nodded, but still didn't close his eyes. "It makes me sad, Percy."**

**"What does? The fact that you signed up for this stupid quest?"**

A number of people snorted at that.

"I know I would feel like that," Annabeth said, silently wondering why her older self willingly became a pawn of the Olympians.

**"No. This makes me sad." He pointed at all the garbage on the ground. "And the sky. You can't even see the stars. They've polluted the sky. This is a terrible time to be a satyr."**

"If Pan was there..." Hermes trailed off, saddened at the thought of his missing son.

Dionysus shot him a sympathetic glance. He cast a dark look at Theseus who looked away. "Humans only know how to destroy something. Throw something away once their uses have been outdated."

**"Oh, yeah. I guess you'd be an environmentalist."**

**He glared at me. "Only a human wouldn't be. Your species is clogging up the world so fast ... ah, never mind. It's useless to lecture a human.**

"Hey!" P.J protested. "That's unfair! I never did anything against nature! I even beat up those kids that dare to throw rubbish into the river and –"

"We get your point," Thalia interrupted before the kid can rant anymore. The quietly: "I don't think you did it for nature – you beat those kids up because they polluted your element."

Poseidon who came to this conclusion grin slightly.

**At the rate things are going, I'll never find Pan."**

**"Pam? Like the cooking spray?"**

A few of the occupants of the room had to choke back their laughter, not wanting to ward Hermes' wrath onto themselves.

**"Pan!" he cried indignantly. "P-A-N. The great god Pan! What do you think I want a searcher's license for?"**

Percy cleared her throat awkwardly. "I always thought he wanted it for the glory."

"That's harsh of you."

"Hey... I didn't know back then."

**A strange breeze rustled through the clearing, temporarily overpowering the stink of trash and muck. It brought the smell of berries and wildflowers and clean rain water, things that might've once been in these woods. Suddenly I was nostalgic for something I'd never known.**

Hermes' eyes lit up; could it be?

Athena frowned, wondering what brought on such magic.

**"Tell me about the search," I said.**

**Grover looked at me cautiously, as if he were afraid I was just making fun.**

"Not Percy," Thalia shook her head, "not about something so important to a friend."

**"The God of Wild Places disappeared two thousand years ago," he told me. "A sailor off the coast of Ephesos heard a mysterious voice crying out from the shore, 'Tell them that the great god Pan has died!'**

Annabeth's eyes took on a far-off quality. "Gods can die?" she murmured to herself in awe. Luke frowned at her fixation on this but didn't say anything.

**When humans heard the news, they believed it. They've been pillaging Pan's kingdom ever since.** **But for the satyrs, Pan was our lord and master. He protected us and the wild places of the earth. We refuse to believe that he died. In every generation, the bravest satyrs pledge their lives to finding Pan. They search the earth, exploring all the wildest places, hoping to find where he is hidden, and wake him from his sleep."**

"An honorable task," Athena acknowledged.

"Very," Nico sneered. No one could tell whether he was being sarcastic or sincere.

**"And you want to be a searcher."**

**"It's my life's dream," he said. "My father was a searcher. And my Uncle Ferdinand ... the statue you saw back there—"**

**"Oh, right, sorry."**

**Grover shook his head. "Uncle Ferdinand knew the risks. So did my dad. But I'll succeed. I'll be the first searcher to return alive."**

"None return...?" P.J trailed off, looking horrified. "That's terrible..."

**"Hang on—the first?"**

**Grover took his reed pipes out of his pocket. "No searcher has ever come back. Once they set out, they disappear. They're never seen alive again."**

"Maybe it's because of the last chapter, but isn't that what they said about the men who went to kill Medusa too?" Theseus questioned.

"More or less," Perseus replied.

"Then how do the stories come out?"

"What?"

"Well... if -in the original myths- everyone who had ever seen Medusa had been turned to stone; then how did Perseus, or anyone really, know that they would turn to stone if they looked at her?"

"...that... is an excellent question."

Athena roll her eyes. "You don't think the gods abandon you do you? The Oracle must have mention something about it and it became rumors, advises passed down to the younger generation for their safety."

**"Not once in two thousand years?"**

**"No."**

**"And your dad? You have no idea what happened to him?"**

**"None."**

**"But you still want to go," I said, amazed. "I mean, you really think you'll be the one to find Pan?"**

**"I have to believe that, Percy. Every searcher does. It's the only thing that keeps us from despair when we look at what humans have done to the world. I have to believe Pan can still be awakened."**

"Stubborn..." Dionysus shook his head, but he seemed to be faintly proud too. Hermes smiled sadly; Pan was lucky to have such loyal believers.

**I stared at the orange haze of the sky and tried to understand how Grover could pursue a dream that seemed so hopeless. Then again, was I any better?**

Athena nodded approvingly, obviously pleased with Percy's thoughts. Heroes may be demigods but that didn't make them invulnerable. Overconfidence will get them killed.

**"How are we going to get into the Underworld?" I asked him. "I mean, what chance do we have against a god?"**

Hades scoffed. "You don't."

"Trust me, Percy will surprise you," Luke responded dryly.

Hades gave her a dark look. "Is that a threat, boy?"

"No," he replied simply. "Merely the truth."

**"I don't know," he admitted. "But back at Medusa's, when you were searching her office? Annabeth was telling me—"**

**"Oh, I forgot. Annabeth will have a plan all figured out." I didn't really mean to sound bitter. But watching as Annabeth cuddled closer to Luke in her sleep stirred something in me.**

Percy coughed awkwardly and Aphrodite laughed. Everyone just shoot amused look at the couple.

**"Don't be so hard on her, Percy. She's had a tough life, but she's a good person. After all, she forgave me..." His voice faltered.**

**"What do you mean?" I asked. "Forgave you for what?"**

Lightning flashed outside and Thalia sighed, tugging on a forelock of her hair.

**Suddenly, Grover seemed very interested in playing notes on his pipes.**

**"Wait a minute," I said. "Your first keeper job was five years ago. Annabeth has been at camp five years.**

"So, she does have a brain," Athena mused, "interesting."

Percy glared at the goddess, offended but wisely kept her mouth shut. Poseidon did the same thing and not for the first time wondered why Athena antagonized his children more so than him; was she so bitter of him that she sought to hurt those he loved?

**She wasn't ... I mean, your first assignment that went wrong—"**

**"I can't talk about it," Grover said, and his quivering lower lip suggested he'd start crying if I pressed him. "But as I was saying, back at Medusa's, Annabeth and I agreed there's something strange going on with this quest. Something isn't what it seems."**

**"Well, duh. I'm getting blamed for stealing a thunder bolt that Hades took."**

**"That's not what I mean," Grover said. "The Fur—The Kindly Ones were sort of holding back. Like Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy ... why did she wait so long to try to kill you? Then on the bus, they just weren't as aggressive as they could've been."**

**"They seemed plenty aggressive to me."**

Theseus said, tone chiding, "The satyr is probably decades older than you, he has more experience so listen to him, sis."

**Grover shook his head. "They were screeching at us: 'Where is it? Where?'"**

**"Asking about me," I said.**

"Note to the world: Percy Jackson is now an 'it'." Apollo declared with a snicker.

Percy's eyebrow twitched. "Why didn't I notice it in the first place?"

"I'm impressed with your brain's functionality." Nico sneered in response to the reteorical question.

**"Maybe ... but Annabeth and I, we both got the feeling they weren't asking about a person. They said 'Where is it?' They seemed to be asking about an object."**

**"That doesn't make sense."**

**"I know. But if we've misunderstood something about this quest, and we only have nine days to find the master bolt..."**

"Unfortunately, however, you don't have time for errors," Poseidon said grimly.

**He looked at me like he was hoping for answers, but I didn't have any.**

**I thought about what Medusa had said: I was being used by the gods. What lay ahead of me was worse than petrification.**

Apollo's eyes glazed over, as if he was dreaming and in pain but no one noticed. 'A lot of pain,' he murmured dazedly, seeing a vision of a girl tumbling into a dark abyss.

**"I haven't been straight with you," I told Grover. "I don't care about the master bolt. I agreed to go to the Underworld so I could bring back my mother."**

**Grover blew a soft note on his pipes. "I know that, Percy.**

"All of us knew," Luke sighed. "It was... kind of obvious."

**But are you sure that's the only reason?"**

**"I'm not doing it to help my father.**

"And yet you immediately leap to him in this conversation," Aphrodite pointed out, cocking one elegant brow, "as though he were at the forefront of your mind."

Percy stared down at her shoes, face flushed.

**He doesn't care about me. I don't care about him."**

Poseidon's eyes turned stormy as he readjusted his grip on his trident, obviously pained by this. His daughter – both versions – did nothing to correct what Book!Percy said, as if they agreed and it brought a stab of pain on his chest.

**Grover gazed down from his tree branch. "Look, Percy, I'm not as smart as Annabeth. Not as crafty or resourceful as Luke.**

Annabeth and Luke smiled faintly.

**I'm not as brave as you. But I'm pretty good at reading emotions. You're glad your dad is alive. You feel good that he's claimed you, and part of you wants to make him proud. That's why you mailed Medusa's head to Olympus. You wanted him to notice what you'd done."**

"Kind of hard to miss, little cousin," Apollo chuckled quietly. "As far as gestures go, in any case."

**"Yeah? Well maybe satyr emotions work differently than human emotions. Because you're wrong. I don't care what he thinks."**

"He's becoming defensive," Hera murmured. "You shouldn't be ashamed to admit your love for your family." She told the two Percys. P.J frowned but nodded, the older one rolled her eyes.

**Grover pulled his feet up onto the branch. "Okay, Percy. Whatever."**

**"Besides, I haven't done anything worth bragging about. We barely got out of New York and we're stuck here with no money and no way west."**

The room scoffed at that.

"Don't be stupid, kid," Hermes snorted. "You've done more than most demigods would ever do. And you've only been aware of all of this for, what? A few weeks?"

"Its to be expected of a child of the Big Three." Zeus murmured.

**Grover looked at the night sky, like he was thinking about that problem. "How about I take first watch, huh? You get some sleep."**

**I wanted to protest, but he started to play Mozart, soft and sweet, and I turned away, my eyes stinging. After a few bars of Piano Concerto no. 12, I was asleep.**

"He played a sleep song on me," Percy whined. "That's so not fair."

"I think you'll need energy to continue your quest." Hephaestus said.

**In my dreams, I stood in a dark cavern before a gaping pit.**

The gods exchanged glances, whilst the demigods – those who knew what it was aka those from the future – looked grim.

**Gray mist creatures churned all around me, whispering rags of smoke that I somehow knew were the spirits of the dead. They tugged at my clothes, trying to pull me back, but I felt compelled to walk forward to the very edge of the chasm.**

"She is at Tartarus," Hades said stiffly, a dark frown on his face.

"That's pretty obvious." Percy said agreeably.

"Can it be...?" Hera murmured, her brow furrowing.

**Looking down made me dizzy.**

**The pit yawned so wide and was so completely black, I knew it must be bottomless. Yet I had a feeling that something was trying to rise from the abyss, something huge and evil.**

"Is our future really so dim?" Artemis asked, her voice little more than a whisper. Apollo reached out and gripped his twin's shoulder, looking grim and solemn.

"Not if we succeed on our quest." Luke said, face grim and solemn. Little Luke looked up at his older self in awe, it was like having an older brother though said brother is yourself.

_**The little heroin,**_** an amused voice echoed far down in the darkness. **_**Too weak, too young, but perhaps you will do.**_** The voice felt ancient—cold and heavy. It wrapped around me like sheets of lead. **_**They have misled you, girl,**_** it said. **_**Barter with me. I will give you what you want. You are my granddaughter after all...**_

The gods stilled and the room fell silent.

**A shimmering image hovered over the void: my mother, frozen at the moment she'd dissolved in a shower of gold. Her face was distorted with pain, as if the Minotaur were still squeezing her neck. Her eyes looked directly at me, pleading: Go!**

Hera was astonished. "Did the mortal woman's soul save her own daughter even though she's..."

"Admirable," Artemis admitted with pride. "Had I found her earlier, she would've been a great Huntress. So much potential" – she sighed sadly – "down the drain."

**I tried to cry out, but my voice wouldn't work.**

**Cold laughter echoed from the chasm.**

**An invisible force pulled me forward. It would drag me into the pit unless I stood firm.**

_**Help me rise, girl.**_** The voice became hungrier. **_**Bring me the bolt. Strike a blow against the treacherous gods!**_

Zeus' lips curled back in a silent snarl, electricity crackling through the air with his anger.

**The spirits of the dead whispered around me, **_**No! Wake!**_

"Why are you helping Poseidon's girl?" Zeus asked Hades curiously.

Hades looked astonished himself; he shrugged. "This happened in the future – how should I know?"

"I really want to know too you know," Percy said. "When I looked back on it, I wondered why the dead wanted to help me."

**The image of my mother began to fade. The thing in the pit tightened its unseen grip around me. I realized it wasn't interested in pulling me in. It was using me to pull itself out.**

Poseidon sat ramrod straight, fear and fury battling for dominance in his eyes.

_**Good,**_** it murmured. **_**Good.**_

_**Wake!**_** the dead whispered. **_**Wake!**_

**Someone was shaking me. My eyes opened, and it was daylight.**

**"Well," Luke said dryly, mouth twisted into a wry smile as his face swam into vision, "the zombie lives."**

It was like the entire room let out the collective breath it was holding.

"Are these... _regular_ dreams?" Poseidon asked after a moment, his voice tight.

"Regular demigod dreams, you mean?" Athena clarified, at his nod, she shook her head. "No. In this case, it was Kronos reaching out directly for Percy. Demigod dreams normally show you things of the past that would help you with your quest. Sometimes, they show you things of the future: where a person is hidden, the place of a weapon that will help et cetera."

"The children of the Big Three are naturally targeted for these other types of dreams," Thalia told them grimly. "Mine have tapered off since I became a huntress, but... they still seep through at times."

"Wonderful," Poseidon and Zeus muttered.

**I was trembling from the dream. I could still feel the grip of the chasm monster around my chest.**

**"How long was I asleep?"**

**"Long enough for me to cook breakfast." Annabeth tossed me a bag of nacho-flavoured corn chips from Aunty Em's snack bar. "And Grover went exploring. Look, he found a friend."**

**My eyes had trouble focusing.**

"Gee, I wonder why," Leo mumbled as the tension slowly lightened in the room.

**Grover was sitting cross-legged on a blanket with something fuzzy in his lap, a dirty, unnaturally pink stuffed animal. No. It wasn't a stuffed animal. It was a pink poodle.**

**The poodle yapped at me suspiciously. Grover said, "No, she's not."**

**I blinked. "Are you ... talking to that thing?"**

"That's not going to go well with said thing." Annabeth said, rolling her eyes at the sea spawn's stupidity.

**The poodle growled.**

**"This thing," Grover warned, "is our ticket west. Be nice to him."**

**"You can talk to animals?"**

"Well, duh," Dionysus scoffed.

**Grover ignored the question. "Percy, meet Gladiola. Gladiola, Percy."**

"Quite the name for such a... flamboyant little guy," Apollo snickered.

**I stared at Luke and Annabeth, figuring they'd crack up at this practical joke they were playing on me, but Annabeth looked deadly serious and Luke was being useless by shrugging his shoulders.**

**"I'm not saying hello to a pink poodle," I said. "Forget it."**

**"Percy," Annabeth said. "Me and Luke said hello to the poodle. You say hello to the poodle."**

**The poodle growled.**

**I said hello to the poodle.**

The tension lifted as small chuckles broke out throughout the room.

**Grover explained that he'd come across Gladiola in the woods and they'd struck up a conversation. The poodle had run away from a rich local family, who'd posted a $200 reward for his return. Gladiola didn't really want to go back to his family, but he was willing to if it meant helping Grover.**

"That was kind of him," Demeter said, eyes sparkling.

**"How does Gladiola know about the reward?" I asked.**

**"He read the signs," Grover said. "Duh."**

**"Of course," I said. "Silly me."**

Thalia chuckled, bumping shoulders with her cousin. "Sarcasm runs through us mini Big Three's veins right?"

Percy laughed. "Yeah."

'What mini Big Three?" Zeus asked.

"Children of the Big Three," his daughter answered him.

**"So we turn in Gladiola," Annabeth explained in her best strategy voice, "we get money, and we buy tickets to Los Angeles. Simple."**

**I thought about my dream—the whispering voices of the dead, the thing in the chasm, and my mother's face, shimmering as it dissolved into gold. All that might be waiting for me in the West.**

Poseidon swallowed hard, his brow furrowing.

**"Not another bus," I said warily.**

**"No," Annabeth agreed. She pointed downhill, toward train tracks I hadn't been able to see last night in the dark. "There's an Amtrak station half a mile that way. According to Gladiola, the west bound train leaves at noon." **

**Luke smirked. "One step closer to the Underworld." He said with a dark glint in his eyes.**

Hermes frowned, suddenly thinking of his May's prophecy and her mad ravings of her son's fate. The Luke before him was obviously on the good side... but what if it was just a fluke? What if he was merely waiting for the right time to backstab the demigods?

Perseus handed the book to Theseus, the son of Poseidon frowning at the last sentence on the chapter before turning to the new one, clearing his throat and reading.

**LxP**


End file.
